RED FLANDERS

The morning clasp of grass had welcomed the remnants of last night’s rain, buds swelling over

the landscape, dressed like angora kits; I pause on the walk to lightly lay fingers on these

small sprouts, who will grow and gust into deep reds with gladdened, golden hearts—if the sun

and a bit of rain consent to caress them, robins and mourning doves trilling notes over their

chubby seed pod heads.

FROM A WINDOW IN POFI

From the kitchen window at the peak of this village

my eyes take in farms, cattle, an uncluttered sky

that has fed and sheltered my family for centuries

and has been lit by a progression of hills amid the beauty

of mountains that repeat themselves in shades of dusk:

gentle blue lines sketched upon a fiery horizon.

Bio:

Mary Anna Scenga Kruch is a career educator and writer and often inspired by her Italian family and the natural world. She has published a textbook, Nurturing Motivation in Young Adolescent Writers (2012), a poetry chapbook, We Draw Breath from the Same Sky (2019), and most recently a full-length collection of poetry and prose, Grace Notes: A Memoir in Poetry & Prose (2021). She is widely published in state and national literary journals.