Donna Fleischer reads @ The Fable, 3/31/23 on Vimeo
Joyful thanks every day to Don Yorty, the teacher and poet, for requesting my reading as well as editing and presenting this video by Betti Viereck, research scientist, artist, and critical lover of poetry, for viewing at Vimeo. Please visit Don’s blog, Don Yorty, Explorations, at https://donyorty.com/about/ . This reading of poems written by Donna Fleischer was curated by the poet Melissa Buckheit, for the EDGE Reading Series, founded by her in Tucson, AZ 12 years ago, and took place on March 31, 2023 at FABLE in Southington, CT, with readings by two other Connecticut poets, Luisa Caycedo-Kimura and Debra Kuhn.
~ Donna Fleischer at word pond
word pond 
“Each spring as the tree comes out of dormancy, the scales fall off and the tree’s leaves, stems and flowers open up and grow.”
Texas A&M Forest Service
Free school lunch has been disciplined, expelled
Free breakfast will get its microphone shut off
Backpacks are sent to their homes empty
Meanwhile, last summer’s dark scales are falling away from the pink flower buds of the Chinese plum.
Out-of-state travel has become suspect
Patrols will pull over women drivers
Passengers are detained for questioning
Meanwhile, the Korean cherry is in full bloom and its fragrance dominates the air currents.
Caring and Affirming have been outlawed
Bathrooms will remain the ones born to
Teams are prohibited from switching sides
Meanwhile, the deep green leaves of the Japanese lilac grow alongside its creamy white blossoms
-LAFelleman’ s this iowa spring