Polly Giantonio

Tunbridge, Vermont  USA

Polly Giantonio's poems have appeared in The Mountain Troubadour, The Wisconsin Review, The Café Review, the Aurorean, Seeding the Snow and is forthcoming in The Dawntreader. An interview with Herb Leibowitz, editor and publisher of Parnassus: Poetry in Review appeared in the July/August 2007 issue of Poets & Writers. An interview with Joseph Chilton Pearce, appeared in Lilipoh, Winter 2004 and Spring 2005. Polly completed her MFA in writing, has taught at local universities, and has mentored students of all ages in a volunteer capacity. She has developed and co-facilitated workshops on creativity and writing.

Poem written in early May 2020

Lockdown day 35

red walls surround me, angles blur inside shadows

pictures like kaleidoscope frames travel

through my head, rain drops patter

dadadadada - gray hallows each day together

bluebirds and hummingbirds arrived

at their feeders yesterday as though

nothing has changed

bed covers, pillows piled as if I wrestled

Lord Voldemort, a bureau drawer partly open

t-shirt half out, yoga bra, leggings, socks, jeans fall

over a faded blanket on its stand

magnolia blossoms unfold into stars

a Milky Way of pink in the midst

of empty maples

a card opened with a note half written -

mandolin strings dance through Vivaldi's concerto

like a stream fresh from winter thaw -

a scent of lilac drifts in between drizzle and rain

as if to wake and lift each item

unruffled and weightless

into the air

emotions swell-collapse like COVID patients in hospitals -

today I'll pretend I'm going out to meet a friend

a lace blouse, my mother's pearl earrings, bracelets

and a necklace (a gift) are my props

coffee beans, ground and brewed

penetrate the kitchen with rich aroma

independent of Lockdown or mood

under-eye concealer tones down the dark

as I bend over a dandelion my breasts hang

like a daffodil head lowered by a Spring snow

and I yank each weed from the perennial bed