Loose Leaf Notes

This (preparing my tax return) is too difficult for a mathematician. It takes a philosopher. ~Albert Einstein

The Audit

In April I calculate poetry
the way others do their taxes
as though the world were overdue
for a good accounting

Bursting to put into words
what the birds already know
with each emerging daffodil
I mark spring’s growing windfall

Its affluent bloom
and excess of green
are annual assets
we all get to claim