Poetry – Excerpts From ‘The POND Project’ (By John L. Stanizzi)

2.5.19

7.48 a.m.

33 degrees

 

 

Picking the boardwalk instead of the pond this morning,

onward through the woods, the ground a mosaic of leaves

necessary for the crosshatch of broken branches to fall silently,

dim in the overcast, the cedar is possessed by bittersweet.

 

 

2.6.19

11.33 a.m.

41 degrees

 

 

Pretended yesterday that spring was closer than it is,

overlay of sun on my tired, pale shoulders, overlay of warmth,

noticeable warmth through my shirt, first time in weeks, and the

disinherited ice is all water now, its tumbling voice effervescent and wild.

 

 

2.7.19

8.49 a.m.

35 degrees

 

 

Perennial doldrums.  I see the same winter landscape everyday,

ordained to either find something new, or make the sameness unique.

Ninety-plus robins, like a blushing murmuration, fly close to the ground;

downstream, the mud frozen into the ice has begun to sink, a old brown blanket.

 

 

2.8.19

10.47 a.m.

48 degrees

 

 

Primaveral search party, I come up empty, though the cool steady rain melts the

opacity of the overcast, and the ground and the stream, entirely thawed, are

nonchalant, as if winter were truly gone, as if bitter cold were not simply

decumbent, taking a break, waiting its next hostile, biting strike.

 

Author Bio: John L. Stanizzi



John L. Stanizzi is author of the collections – Ecstasy Among Ghosts, Sleepwalking, Dance Against the Wall, After the Bell, Hallelujah Time!, High Tide – Ebb Tide, Four Bits, Chants, and his is newest collection, Sundowning, brought out by Main Street Rag. Besides Antarctica Review, John’s poems have appeared in Prairie Schooner, American Life in Poetry, The New York Quarterly, Paterson Literary Review, Blue Mountain Review, The Cortland Review, Rattle, Tar River Poetry, Rust & Moth, Connecticut River Review, Hawk & Handsaw, and many others. His non-fiction has appeared in Stone Coast Review. His work has been translated into Italian and appeared in many journals in Italy. His translator is Angela D’Ambra. John has read and venues all over New England, including the Mystic Arts Café, the Sunken Garden Poetry Festival, Hartford Stage, and many others. For many years, John coordinated the Fresh Voices Poetry Competition for Young Poets at Hill-Stead Museum, Farmington, CT. He is also a teaching artist for the national recitation contest, Poetry Out Loud. A former New England Poet of the Year, John teaches literature at Manchester Community College in Manchester, CT and he lives with his wife, Carol, in Coventry.

www.johnlstanizzi.com