- 4 days ago
- 2 min read
Three Poems
HERITAGE (Baltimore)
Sometimes the weather turned, & burned sugar
floated on the air. Sometimes men knelt down
to weep alongside the water. Christ walked
every night, past the old slaughterhouses
leaving footprints in the bloody sawdust
which spilled from trucks & along passages
lined with brick. From inside out, in iron air
language grew sideways, scarred & glittering
belly down, pulling its chain of wonders
link by link from the depths of the city.
CHIAVE
My nonna & her pan full of breadcrumbs.
Nonna of faith & Nonna among stars.
Nonna in her traveling dress, gold rosettes
lifting off the fabric, blooming in air.
Tiny gold petals, gold bees thickening
in purposeful dabs, gold light all around
clouding the kitchen & breading the fish
gold pixels spilling down the countertop
gold notelets, gold capitals trembling
into sounds I know & can—almost—touch.
STRANIERA
At Roma Termini, nobody cares
that I'm a "heritage learner." Pigeons
swoop as I stammer in my green sandals.
I-have-lost-the-ultimate-train. I'd like
just one grandma to scoop me up, to call
in her trilling notes, to clasp my strange hand
in hers. Grammar of luck, gold coin inside
la coincidenza—I feel it all
with my wild nerves. Tomorrow, madam.
Who speaks of loneliness? Rattle, drawl, coo.
KIKI PETROSINO is the author of White Blood: A Lyric of Virginia (2020), the memoir Bright (2022), and other books. She holds graduate degrees from the University of Chicago and the University of Iowa Writer's Workshop. She is a Professor of Poetry at the University of Virginia where she teaches in the MFA and undergraduate Creative Writing programs. Her newest book of poetry, Perfect Italian, will be released from Sarabande in 2026.