By: Claudia Ricci

 

 

 

There stands a fat robin

on the limestone rocks

outside the window.

And on the tip of the

highest branch of

the peach tree

sits a hummingbird

that rises to do

a sky dance and then

settles back down again.

There now is

a rusty red fox so casually

trotting down the

driveway into the

forest of words on my page.

 

How can these works of

nature make

my heart flutter up like

a single flapping wing?

Here I go again saying

this flower and that tree

or that whinnying pony

make me  so happy.

Isn’t it enough that I’ve

marveled and swelled

before and before that?

Is it necessary to do

it one time more?

But that’s like saying

I prayed last Wednesday

and so I won’t open my mouth

again today or tomorrow

or next week.

 

Poetry rides in the flow

of blood that curses

through my veins.

It speaks in the

wind that tosses

the leaves

and blows the clouds

this way

and that.

It’s a matter

of

everyday

life

saying itself

out loud.

_____

Bio: Claudia Ricci, Ph.D.

Claudia Ricci, Ph.D., was a staff writer for The Wall Street Journal and a prize-winning reporter for the Chicago Sun-Times, where one of her projects was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.

Her novels include:

• Dreaming Maples, published in 2002, and nominated for a Pushcart Prize
• Seeing Red, January 2011
• Sister Mysteries, July 2018

Her short fiction has appeared in numerous literary magazines nationwide.

Ricci spent 15 years teaching English and journalism at the University at Albany and was a visiting professor for one year at Georgetown University.

To order her novels or view her art, visit her website at www.claudiajricci.com

Claudia’s poems and posts on Two Drops of Ink

 

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