Linda Woolven

ONE POEM

TWO ITALIAN LOVERS IN THE NEW COUNTRY

He leaves his socks on,
he is always in a hurry,
puts the blinds down
so it is always dark,
like he can leave
the smell  of oranges
and sunshine outside.

In here, it is serious business.
Like an exercise routine, or morning ritual.

He remembers each of his moves,
going through then
one by one, so thoroughly,
making sure to do each one
as thoroughly and well as he
does everything else,
even with the lights off
and the sounds of the old country dimmed.

It is his ritual,
I, am his ritual,
and we have been doing it
for over 25 years.

I am an anniversary, an echo,
of the old country:
his peasant girl
in bare feet,
smelling of olives
and the sea.

He finds it
still,
in my recesses
where I keep it:
my gift to him.

It is belonging,
even here, with the rituals so far
removed
from our home.

Two Italian lovers, husband and wife,
finely aged in the
Toronto cask that our
house is with its blinds down
on such days,
fermenting
to a fine wine,
a memory of the old country.

Linda Woolveb has published over 75 poems in journals across Canada, the United States and the U.K. The poems have appeared in journals like Descant, Dana Literary Society, Amethyst Review, Write On, Sepia Poetry Magazine, New Mirage Quarterly, The Kaleidocope Review, Canadian Writer’s Journal, Pink Chameleon and Fullosia Press. One of my poems received an award from Dana Literary Society. I also published a chapbook called Life’s Little Lessons a few summers ago that featured 26 poems. I have also published a short story in Happy, and a story in Characters.

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