Naples Florida, April 20, 2020
We see through blacktop to the clouds heat rising like sheets of glass A crow’s piercing caw shreds the air stillness magnifying sound An alligator with mouth wide-open moves closer Sharp teeth glisten in full sun A few cyclists glide in the heat haze heads down Unspeaking As if in a dream Walkers like us masked and gloved lose the borders of our identity We turn onto a path through mangroves drooping in listless splendor Above the trees a parallel world of spiders Spinning Unfazed by heat their silken nets stretch above us Small dead things encased Mudflats and estuaries lie empty Where did the shorebirds go In the clearing the sky is blank indifferent Not the smallest movement of air Copyright 2020 Mary Jo Balistreri Waukesha, WI
Bio:
Mary Jo Balistreri is a writer from Waukesha, Wisconsin. She has three poetry collections (Bellowing Ark Press—2008, 2012) (Future Cycle Press, 2019) and a chapbook (Tiger’s Eye Press, 2014) This poem was written during lockdown from Coronavirus when we were away in Florida. Beaches were closed along with everything else. My husband was not well. We couldn’t find a flight home. The poem was a necessary first step, though I didn’t know it then, to get back into writing. For more information, please visit me at maryjobalistreripoet.com
Donation Appeal:
Throughout June and July, we will be presenting on this web site work by poets and artists responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. We hope you will find these works relevant, comforting and inspiring as we all cope with the economic and health-related fallout.
As you view the work on this site each day, we would like to encourage you to donate to the Arlington Food Assistance Center (AFAC). Their mission “ is to feed our neighbors in need by providing dignified access to supplemental groceries. AFAC is seeing a record number of families due to the COVID-19 pandemic as families who never thought they would ever be in need are now showing up at our doors for much needed food.” And, in keeping with our hunger-focused efforts, you may also want to visit the Poetry X Hunger website where poems by many poets are posted and are being used by anti-hunger organizations.”
Throughout June and July, we will be presenting on this web site work by poets and artists responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. We hope you will find these works relevant, comforting and inspiring as we all cope with the economic and health-related fallout.
Please consider donating to AFAC. If you do, let us know which poet or artist inspired you so we can send you a personal thank you.
If you send a donation, please let us know.
And thank you for your visit and your generosity.
Glad to see that you are writing again, Mary Jo. Hope you and Frank are doing well.