FORBIDDEN FRUIT
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I held the hem of my skirt above my knees,
exposing my bare legs to the breeze and sidelong looks of the man with whom I strolled among exotic blooms. He admired their fragrances, their lush colors. But he was suffering, flushed and sweaty under the sun’s blaze because he wore all black. His gaze met mine, lingered. I gave, unasked, the only thing I could: a flask of water. He took it, trembling, and drank. And when he offered me his thanks I thought of that poem in French, comparing the love-struck heart to a strawberry. |
LEAVES & FISHES
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Trudging home in a gritty drizzle,
I sweat, shiver, sniffle. My ears are cold, listening to the sizzle and hiss made by the passing cars. All around me layers of fallen leaves plaster the pavement, stick to the sidewalks. Colors of dun, rust, jaundice, slick upon the brick. From underneath umbrellas, a glimpse of faces briefly lit by street lamps, glistening. Feverish, I fancy the fallen leaves are fish -- enough for everyone to eat, strewn in abundance at our feet. |
STONE SOUP
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Thinking back to childhood winters, I recall
how the yard around our house seemed immense. (My parents hadn’t yet put up a fence on either side, for privacy.) In those days all the kids on our street knew each other and played together: skating on the ditch’s precarious puddles, sledding, pitching snowballs, building forts (at which my brother was an expert). But I liked to be alone sometimes, making stories in my head. Then I’d creep behind the padlocked shed where frozen water in a bucket, mixed with stones and berries and pine needles, could become a magic soup that I pretended kept me warm. |
Header art by T. Guzzio.
CONNECT WITH LISA:
Photo by Allana Taranto
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Lisa DeSiro's poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in Aethlon, Commonthought, Mezzo Cammin, Prodigal’s Chair, Rattle (online), Sixfold, The Healing Muse, and Thirty Days: The Best of the Tupelo Press 30/30 Project’s First Year. Poems of hers can be heard in musical settings on the albums Currents and Living in Light. Along with her MFA in Creative Writing from Lesley University, she has degrees from Binghamton University, Boston Conservatory, and Longy School of Music. She is employed as Production & Editorial Assistant for C.P.E. Bach: The Complete Works, and she is also an accomplished pianist. You can read more about her at https://thepoetpianist.com/.
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