A Roosevelt elk grazes in a Warrenton neighborhood.

Changing seasons offer a wealth of inspiration for the poet in each of us.

Thank you to each of the Columbia-Pacific writers that sent in work to Coast Weekend over the season.

The following is a selection of reader submitted poetry centered on the interpretation of “spring.”

‘Daybreak,’ by Marilyn Defreese

Walking the elk path at Ft. Stevens,

Sunlight played off the Columbia.

Otters bobbed along with the current,

Teasing or chasing and diving again.

A Stellar jay, reflected in blue,

Broke the air with its call.

sun in my hair

a hint of soft breeze

morning song

‘Daffodil Watching,’ by Andrew Puzauskas

As I sit here in the kitchen looking

At the the daffodils I dug last week

And placed into a clay pot roots, bulbs,

Worms, earth, all of which are now

Perched on the sunny window sill

And I realize now that the flowers

Are slowly responding to the mellow warmth of

Electric heat and February sun and are

Silently (but too slow to see) gradually unfolding.

Another side of me asks “aren’t there more things

I might be doing than sitting quietly gazing at the flowers?”

But then contrarywise I think “what possible banal

and ordinary errands could in any way compare

to the witnessing of the miraculous growth

of living flowers forming… slowly moving

towards their own perfection.”

‘Wedding Day at Puget Island,’ by Dayle Olson

A late spring day of uncommon gray.

Fat raindrops adorn your boutonniere,

the finest smattering of river silt speckling your spats.

The cushion of your arm behind me

as we bounce along the wet island road.

Two untamed hearts,

old enough to know better,

flying high above the cows and pastures,

beaming with abandon.

Brilliant and joyous, a sea of flags,

wave in affirmation at this unlikely miracle:

the embrace of two souls in life’s late hour.

Cousins, friends and townsfolk cheer

as the jalopy, roofless and robin’s egg blue,

sputters to a stop in front of Norse Hall.

In one hand I clutch my red bouquet.

In the other hand,

hope and possibility.

‘Moon Magic,’ by Kathryn Vale

May is the magical month…

This month of fiery herbs,

Mint and cinnamon.

A corn planting month.

The milk moon,

The hare moon.

Red rubies… amber.

Mysterious flowers,

Lilacs, lavender, iris.

The sun slips away,

The bonfire creates its own magic.

The full moon in May,

The full flower moon.

The blood moon.

This May, real magic,

And we are in awe.

The moon is showing a dark side.

It is a lunar eclipse!

A gift for this magical month.