Change

Today I begin my fifth year of writing a poem every day. It's a wonderful practice.

Today, I begin my fifth year of writing a poem every day. 

This little poem was in response to a prompt from Ellen Rowland. She’s providing us with prompts every day for the month of April. They are challenging, for sure! 
Here were her instructions:
Line 1: Make a statement about spring.
Line 2: Stir in a song lyric. (I recommend using a search engine for this).
Line 3: Fold in the word “redolent” (adjective meaning having a pleasant odor, fragrant).
Line 4: Describe the odor using a simile with “like” or “as”, making a comparison to something else.
Line 5: Make a leap to a memory, bringing the poem in a surprising direction.
Line 6: Continue the memory.
Line 7: Mention an element—light, sun, wind, stars, moon, etc.
Line 8: End with a statement about the element.

Change  
With a nod to The Mamas and The Papas 
the second line of my poem from “California Dreamin’”

Early spring, after summer heat comes winter rain— 
I’d be safe and warm if I were in L.A.
Jasmine redolent as January’s daphne
potent as the smell of my wet window screen 
in a childhood Cincinnati thunderstorm
my nose pressed hard, sucking in the scent
Today, wind snakes through the trees, snapping
a huge branch—the finality of change