Jennifer Martelli
Vs
I tried to find the volta in every single sonnet,
counted: two, four, six, eight lines. Octet, turn, and sestet—
I read a book in bed, felt my neck creak and bend,
my chin to my breast bone, rested the book on my tummy.
I chewed the end of my Micron pen, wrote volta on the side,
then got too tired and just marked a little dark v,
like a caret or a greater-than less-than sign in math.
I hope I have the dream I’ve dreamt all season:
Vin and I are back in our little condo in the crook of the oaks
before the kids: the sun shone all day in our blue kitchen.
My jade grew like snakes and the coleus, fire-pink til dusk.
In the dream, I know I’m old: a quarter century had passed,
some people aren’t alive, some are, and there are geese—
the geese were flying over the Charles.
Jennifer Martelli is the author of My Tarantella (Bordighera Press), selected as a 2019 “Must Read” by the Massachusetts Center for the Book and named as a finalist for the Housatonic Book Award. Her chapbook, After Bird, was the winner of the Grey Book Press open reading, 2016. Most recently, her work has appeared in Poetry, The Sycamore Review, and Iron Horse Review (winner, Photo Finish contest). Jennifer Martelli has twice received grants from the Massachusetts Cultural Council. She is co-poetry editor for Mom Egg Review and co-curates the Italian-American Writers Series at I AM Books in Boston.
Return to July 2021 Edition
I tried to find the volta in every single sonnet,
counted: two, four, six, eight lines. Octet, turn, and sestet—
I read a book in bed, felt my neck creak and bend,
my chin to my breast bone, rested the book on my tummy.
I chewed the end of my Micron pen, wrote volta on the side,
then got too tired and just marked a little dark v,
like a caret or a greater-than less-than sign in math.
I hope I have the dream I’ve dreamt all season:
Vin and I are back in our little condo in the crook of the oaks
before the kids: the sun shone all day in our blue kitchen.
My jade grew like snakes and the coleus, fire-pink til dusk.
In the dream, I know I’m old: a quarter century had passed,
some people aren’t alive, some are, and there are geese—
the geese were flying over the Charles.
Jennifer Martelli is the author of My Tarantella (Bordighera Press), selected as a 2019 “Must Read” by the Massachusetts Center for the Book and named as a finalist for the Housatonic Book Award. Her chapbook, After Bird, was the winner of the Grey Book Press open reading, 2016. Most recently, her work has appeared in Poetry, The Sycamore Review, and Iron Horse Review (winner, Photo Finish contest). Jennifer Martelli has twice received grants from the Massachusetts Cultural Council. She is co-poetry editor for Mom Egg Review and co-curates the Italian-American Writers Series at I AM Books in Boston.
Return to July 2021 Edition