JOHNNY’S LITTLE GIFT
Tchotchkes filled Aunt Loretta’s house.
Window sills, walnut shelves displayed
commedia dell’arte figurines, circus
animals, señorita with lace mantilla, two
jade green Chinese Foo Dogs, grinning
boy’s ceramic head sprouting grass hair,
and to forecast weather a glass swan
filled with blue liquid changed color.
Peeking from kitchen window Ma
saw Ba’s crippled hands weaving baskets,
heard Chico barking in the backyard.
Shifting blue to pink, Woolworth’s plastic
barometer indicated approaching rain.
Johnny’s little gift revealed
a world incomprehensible.
Al Tacconelli’s poetry appears in journals and anthologies. Passaic County Community College, Hofstra University, Calandra Institute, Free Library of Philadelphia, Beach Bards Poetry & Prose Reading Series, Moonstone Poetry Series, Manayunk Art Center, Cornelia Street Cafe, Giovanni’s Room, Churchill’s are venues at which Al has presented. The Allen Ginsberg Poetry Contest awarded Al with Honorable Mention and Editor’s Choice. Bordighera Press (2014) published Perhaps Fly, and Finishing Line Press (2018) published Alone at the Border. Al Tacconelli art works are represented in the permanent collection of Passaic County Community College.
OVUNQUE SIAMO 