POETRY FORUM

POND, 5.3.19

by John L. Stanizzi on July 14, 2019 :: 1 comment

5.3.19
1.14 p.m.
61 degrees

The hummingbirds returned today.

Pluck and aerials this 1/10 of an ounce, and
ovations are due each time the hummers return, as they did today.
Nervous polliwogs, disperse with every step I take, and
dive, bellies flashing white, vanishing into the mud instantly.

editors note:

This poem is part of a 1-year project called POND; “Everyday, at different times during the day, I visit our pond with notebook and camera in hand. I jot down some notes… Then I head home and write a four line acrostic using the letters P, O, N, and D.” Cool!
– mh clay

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staniz23
July 28, 2019 at 2:55 pm

Thank you, Mad Friends.

-JLS

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A bit about John: A bit about John: John L. Stanizzi is author of the collections Ecstasy Among Ghosts, Sleepwalking, Dance Against the Wall, After the Bell, Hallelujah Time!, High Tide – Ebb Tide, Four Bits, Chants, Sundowning, POND, and The Tree That Lights The Way Home, and Feathers and Bones, which has only been out fewer than two weeks. New book on the way – I’d say in the next 3 months…coming from The Main Street Rag, the new book is called Viper Brain. I’ll keep you posted.

Besides Mad Swirl, John’s work has been widely published including the journals Prairie Schooner, The Cortland Review, American Life in Poetry, Praxis, Rust & Moth, The New York Quarterly, Paterson Literary Review, The Laurel Review, The Caribbean Writer, Blue Mountain Review, Tar River, Poetlore, Rattle, Hawk & Handsaw, Plainsongs, Potato Soup Journal, and many others. His work has been translated into Italian and appears widely in Italy, including in El Ghibli, The Journal of Italian Translations Bonafini, Poetarium, and others. His translator is the Italian poet, Angela D’Ambra. His nonfiction has been published in Literature and Belief, Stone Coast Review, Ovunque Siamo, Adelaide, Scarlet Leaf, Evening Street, Praxis, Potato Soup Journal, The Red Lemon, after the pause, and others. Potato Soup Journal named his story Pants “The Best of 2020” and it appeared in their anthology as part of their celebration of their “Best of 2020” Edition.

A former Wesleyan University Etherington Scholar, and New England Poet of the Year (1998), John has just been awarded an Artist Fellowship in Creative Non-Fiction – 2021 - from the Connecticut Office of the Arts and Culture for work on his new memoir. He teaches literature at Manchester Community College in Manchester, Connecticut, and lives with his wife, Carol, in Coventry, CT. https://www.johnlstanizzi.com