Vittoria repetto
the protector
after mamma died,
nonna would sleep with me
in the big bed
in my parent’s apt.
dad coming home
after the restaurant closed
slept in my old bed.
as a teen
i wanted my own space
but had none.
i sometimes woke nonna up suddenly
as i in an adolescent sex dream
grabbed her.
and in the summer,
she liked the a.c. high
and i didn’t.
years after she died,
an old friend of nonna’s told me
nonna had heard
of widowers taking their daughters
and though she thought
dad was not the type,
she was going to make sure.
Bio:
Vittoria repetto is a lesbian butch who grew up in Greenwich Village. She is the daughter of immigrant Italian parents. In 1995, she published a chapbook Head For the Van Wyck and in 2006, Guernica Editions published her first poetry book, Not Just A Personal Ad. Vittoria repetto was the vice president of the Italian-American Writers Assoc from 1991 to 2016. She hosted a Women’s & Trans’ Poetry Jam from 1999 to 2018.
OVUNQUE SIAMO 