JOAN LEOTTA

★ ★ ★ ★

POETRY

Winter in the City

Sunrise becomes
a daily struggle
to crack open
frozen horizons
and cling to sky
long enough to provide
some semblance
of a day,
in that short space
before streetlights
rule our way
once more.

Frost and My Winter Camellias

Most years, frost
has clasped my buds
in his deadly grasp
before pink and red
burst free.
This year, when I heard
the chilling forecast,
I ran out, shears in hand,
to clip a few buds,
so that indoors
these refugees
in a vase will bloom.
I can only save a few.
But if I do nothing,
all will die
in frost’s indifference.

Joan Leotta has been playing with words on page and stage since childhood. She’s a journalist, novelist, poet and playwright. Her novels feature strong Italian-American women. Joan’s poems and picture books celebrate food and family. Her poetry and essays appear in Gnarled Oak, Red Wolf, A Quiet Courage, the A-3 Review, Hobart Literary Review, Silver Birch, Postcard Poems and Prose among others. Her first poetry chapbook, Languid Lusciousness with Lemon, will be out in January 2017 from Finishing Line. joanleotta.wordpress.com and Joan Leotta, Author and Story Performer on Facebook.