Poetry – Excerpts From ‘The POND Project’ (By John L. Stanizzi)
These small poems are from a one-year-long project called POND — The poems are acrostics. Everyday, at different times during the day, I visit our pond with notebook and camera in hand. I jot down some notes, take a picture or two, if a good photo op. presents itself. Then I head home and write a four line acrostic using the letters P, O, N, and D. The other caveat, which makes the project so interesting to me, is that I cannot use any of my first words more than once. I need a different P, O, N, or D word every day; I began the book on November 9, 2018 and will complete it on November 9, 2019.
9.25.19 | 1.34 p.m. | 68 degrees
Preciousness in the easy breeze these early fall days.
Osculation of its coolness on my summer-bare arms.
Noisome may not be the best word, but the leaves do, indeed, collide,
dihedral kites clicking through air nearly silently, like the fall breeze through a silk shawl.
9.24.19 | 7.49 a.m. | 60 degrees
Prescience that all too soon this will all be frozen.
Orotund blue jays dominate the sounds, yet the sky is
nevertheless empty without the swallows, and a pair of dragonflies
drafts one another, flitting and lifting out over the water as if nothing will change.
9.23.19 | 1.14 p.m. | 83 degrees
Pellicle of slick mud on the bank that is usually underwater,
oleo slimy and scattered with rocks. And the hummingbirds, usually gone, are
nonsensical, coming to the feeders as ravenous as ever,
dilatory and casual, they twirl and chatter, as right there in the hills fall encroaches.
9.22.19 | 7.14 a.m. | 53 degrees
Passe the days of the pond being full to its brim;
osseous shoreline in dire need of water to cover its bones.
Narcosis in the ash tree, and although the sunlight shines behind it,
derogation shows on its leaves, slowly curly on themselves, their complexion waning.
9.21.19 | 8.01 a.m. | 52 degrees
Possessing less and less each day, the banks, like low tide, are exposed,
obstinate dry spell leaving the pond’s bones to dry in the sun.
Neurosis in the landscape, the weight of late summer
discomfits the trees which give in, sag, continue their slow burn.
Author Bio: John L. Stanizzi
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, and his is newest collection, Sundowning, brought out by Main Street Rag. Besides Antarctica Review, John’s poems have appeared in Prairie Schooner, American Life in Poetry, The New York Quarterly, Paterson Literary Review, Blue Mountain Review, The Cortland Review, Rattle, Tar River Poetry, Rust & Moth, Connecticut River Review, Hawk & Handsaw, and many others. His non-fiction has appeared in Stone Coast Review. His work has been translated into Italian and appeared in many journals in Italy. His translator is Angela D’Ambra. John has read and venues all over New England, including the Mystic Arts Café, the Sunken Garden Poetry Festival, Hartford Stage, and many others. For many years, John coordinated the Fresh Voices Poetry Competition for Young Poets at Hill-Stead Museum, Farmington, CT. He is also a teaching artist for the national recitation contest, Poetry Out Loud. A former New England Poet of the Year, John teaches literature at Manchester Community College in Manchester, CT and he lives with his wife, Carol, in Coventry.
www.johnlstanizzi.com