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From Up on the Porch
Anthony DeGregorio

From up on the porch, the view hidden by trees,
It is impossible to tell if the splashing is from a dog or a child or both.
But then there’s panting, clear distinct.
Standing up, walking toward the wooden steps leading down to the bay,
It is easy to see the old woman toss the bright yellow tennis ball
Using what looks like a small lacrosse stick
Too far out for Velvet’s taste.
”Get the ball, Velvet. Get the ball Velvet. Get the ball, Velvet!”

An idling kayaker asks if she’d like him to get the ball.
A moment after he throws it to shore,
The woman picks up the soaked ball and hurls it far out again.
Velvet is unimpressed and ignores her,
Sniffing along the rocks, pawing at shells, biting sticks.
Velvet, get the ball!

The kayaker paddles a bit faster in his retreat from the cove.
He wants to share the story with his girlfriend who is showering
Back at the rented cottage, but is soon remembering his mother
Who often repeated the same questions numerous times
And requested to go home as she sat up on her living room couch.
You are home. Okay, I want to go home now. You are home. Okay, take me home now.
Hello
She would often respond to a TV personality’s greeting
As he began his personal sales pitch in a commercial.
Velvet…

—
Anthony DeGregorio’s writing has appeared or is scheduled to appear in various publications including Italian American Magazine, Aromatica Poetica, Bloom, Nowhere, Wales Haiku Journal, Polu Texni, So It Goes: The Literary Journal of the Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library, Paterson Literary Review, Light—A Journal of Photography & Poetry, The Maine Review, and The Westchester Review.

DeGregorio taught writing at Manhattanville College for twenty years, and in another life or two or three he worked in various capacities for the Department of Social Services, much of that time while teaching at night. Prior to that is anyone’s guess, but don’t let that stop you.

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Have you read these poems:
Where Animals Dream by Madeline Izzo
You Are Bad at Singing, I’m Not by James Croal Jackson

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