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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