Joan Mazza Verse-Virtual 2016 September

September 2016

I started writing poetry in 1998 after writing mostly fiction and non-fiction. Poetry has been a daily practice since 2011, and a lifeline and tranquilizer during a long recovery when I had a serious accident and crushed the top of my tibia. My work has been published in a variety of literary magazines, but the writing process offers the most satisfaction. In addition to poetry, I do fabric and paper art deep in the woods of central Virginia. www.JoanMazza.com

Ode to Ravioli

Square pasta pillows filled with ricotta, mozzarella,
and flecks of parsley, sealed and bound with a beaten egg,

boiled until they float, rolling over each other until
tender, drizzled with sauce from jars I canned

last August when vines were heavy with plum tomatoes.
First snowflakes fall on the garden’s brown remnants

while we gather at a long dark table set with mom’s

Waterford and the Noritake china she bought
for my engagement, and Grandma’s silver, brought back

from her cruise to Italy, where she saw family
after forty years, wearing a dress and shoes without holes.

We serve them up on the oval platter that belonged
to Aunt Sarah, sprinkle Locatelli Romano.

Though you’re not here, I set your place at the table.

Published at Century 121, January 2013

Editor's Note: If this poem(s) moves you please consider writing to the author (email address above) to tell him or her. You might say what it is about the poem that moves you. Writing to the author is the beginning of community at Verse Virtual. It is very important. -FF