J.D. Isip (he/him) is the author of Pocketing Feathers (Sadie Girl Press, 2015) and several other works of poetry, fiction, and theater. His second full-length poetry collection, Kissing the Wound will be out in January 2023 from Moon Tide Press. He is also a full-time professor in Plano, Texas, and a contributing editor to The Blue Mountain Review.
When in Rome
You finally made the trip, just past 60, past the cancer and the kids,
little victories are your laurels in this age, so practice the way to say
ricotta and chew the candied orange peel and stracciatella, cannoli
and espresso, museum after museum, you won’t remember the art
just the red walls, the click of the pumps you bought just for this, so
many months (or was it even a year?) ago, and here you are walking
with a glass of sweet wine, watching the sun set, the light of fountains
gleaming in the arch and rivulets of water as sweet as the wine and sun
set the glass beside your empty plate, take his hand, more past 60, still looks at you like we all look at this place, not the age, not the chipped
paint, the crumbling stone, the fallen majesty, not at all, not a bit of it, nothing here is anything less than bella, bella, bella, and here you are