You Must Believe In Spring /// by Aaron Bennett

[vc_row row_height_percent=”50″ override_padding=”yes” h_padding=”2″ top_padding=”3″ bottom_padding=”3″ back_image=”56863″ back_position=”center top” overlay_alpha=”0″ gutter_size=”3″ shift_y=”0″][vc_column column_width_percent=”100″ position_vertical=”bottom” style=”dark” overlay_alpha=”50″ gutter_size=”3″ medium_width=”0″ shift_x=”0″ shift_y=”0″ zoom_width=”0″ zoom_height=”0″ width=”1/1″][vc_custom_heading heading_semantic=”h1″ text_size=”fontsize-338686″ text_height=”fontheight-179065″ text_space=”fontspace-111509″ text_font=”font-762333″ text_weight=”700″ text_color=”color-xsdn” sub_reduced=”yes” subheading=”by Aaron Bennett”]You Must Believe In Spring[/vc_custom_heading][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_empty_space empty_h=”2″][vc_column_text]but count on eating at least
one bad clementine this week—
its peel a siren’s call like the glow
of buildings with unblinking eyes.

You must believe in spring
but you live vicariously
through your city’s football team.
Men whose hands won’t stop shaking—
men who gallop in the night.

You must believe in spring
but the crows won’t let you. They hang
heavy from the branches like rotten fruit.
Even if you do nothing, something will grow.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column column_width_percent=”100″ align_horizontal=”align_center” overlay_alpha=”50″ gutter_size=”3″ medium_width=”0″ mobile_width=”0″ shift_x=”0″ shift_y=”0″ z_index=”0″ width=”1/1″][vc_empty_space][vc_separator sep_color=”color-184322″ el_width=”30%”][vc_empty_space][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column column_width_percent=”100″ align_horizontal=”align_right” overlay_alpha=”50″ gutter_size=”3″ medium_width=”0″ mobile_width=”0″ shift_x=”0″ shift_y=”0″ z_index=”0″ width=”1/3″][vc_single_image media=”57374″ media_width_percent=”100″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_column_text]Aaron Bennett is a first year poet in The Northeast Ohio Master of Fine Arts Program (NEOMFA). He is Editor-in-Chief of The New Old Stock literary magazine, and has work forthcoming in Luna Negra and Rubbertop Review.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][/vc_column][/vc_row]