“Once Again the Sun is in the Ram” (opens in new tab)

In the Next Line, Please column that went up on St. Patrick’s Day, I proposed two options: Either write “a photograph in words,” omitting as many adjectives and adverbs as possible, or write a poem triggered by the assignment’s due date, April 1. For the latter, the prompt was to compose, in 14 lines or less, a good jest in verse, an explanation or refutation of T. S. Eliot’s famous characterization of April as “the cruelest month,” or simply a salute to the advent of spring.