Authors /
Donna Pucciani
Donna Pucciani is a Chicago poet whose latest book is Edges.
Dear Jonas
How clearly I remember
the friend encased in metal,
her head sticking out of the iron lung
with row on row of other tubed children
staring at the ceiling, wondering...
September 16, 2022
Thoughts while watering flowers
Quiet.
Even the locusts have vanished,
taking their strange invisible castanets with them.
Where are the birds? Too silent, for June.
The longest day was yesterday....
May 21, 2020
Peter at eighty
Peter rides his bike into the morning.
Today he flies through the forest
early enough for the deer to emerge,
watching him and thinking how odd a being...
September 12, 2019
Cloudscape
When a cloud
becomes a ragdoll or a sheep,
the Madonna’s face, a sidelong
glance, rainmaker in April,
ice-truck in December,...
April 11, 2019
After the earthquake
Around the table, we drink coffee
in small cups, peel oranges
with little knives. Crumbs of cake
dot the blue cotton tablecloth
like chunks of houses all over Umbria...
September 8, 2017
The discipline of gratitude
I am told to be gratefulas I wake each morningwrapped in the unfolding blanket of dawn,shake off the moon, dying stars,and taste the beige-gray breath...
January 5, 2016
Carmen and Pasquale at Bergamo Airport
You stand side by side, i miei cugini,the Italian version of "American Gothic"bisected by iron security gates, to watch ussnaking in inches toward X-ray machines....
August 8, 2010
Free Newsletters
From theological reflections to breaking religion news to the latest books, the Christian Century's newsletters have you covered.
Your side of the bed
It’s time to rotate the mattress.Your side is well wornfrom the gravity of heavy sleepwhereas mine has only the barestoutline, my small frame...
July 12, 2010
De-icing the plane
A small black truck huddlesbehind one wing, buried in a shroudof smoke. Exhaust fumes? fire?No. A cloud of detergent...
January 25, 2010