Harbinger

The Writer, Vernon Wade

Vernon Wade is a poet, author and freelancer. He has been published in The Gorge Literary Journal, Dualsport Rider Magazine, Hack’d Magazine, The Sidecarist, ROB Magazine and The Hood River News.

The world fills him with wonder. When he looks at the sky he is lifted into flights of fancy, when he stares at the earth he is drawn beneath its surface. He is delighted to find the macrocosm and the microcosm equally mesmerizing.

Swarms of beetles emerge

from the receding snow banks

on the first truly warm day.

Sunbathing on the south wall,

a mass of black bugs lined with red,

their excrement stains the window trim.

Some find their way inside the house

where they crawl into my teacup

or walk across my face as I try to sleep.

But I don’t complain,

much.

More reliable than the robin.

they are the true harbingers

of Spring.