Three Poems
Dreamswelling
The shallow pool opens to me as I change:
my kelp fingers are almost transparent,
my delicate skin radiates in the depth of the sea-well:
s/well
Seas’ hell of thousand caresses, swells
of moon-jelly-women, transparent moon jellies
my hair shining purple and gray, changing
new bodies thrilling with power:
s/hell
We taste, faintly, of iron and blood.
Open Eyes
Summer comes with a shiver
its touch hides fingers of ice
as it draws on my skin
patterns of the new darkness to come
We fold down our heads like birds waiting
for rapture or a place to call home
We find none but the open mystery
of what is to come
After Alice (Sprouting Wings)
Spider net, broken well of darkness unbound:
transparent lids closed over nothing
violet petals of breath rising up
Droplets of air rising, reversed worlds in your fall
nights pass you remain, girl unseen and unfound
Alice in no-Wonderland, blue mist in the well
hair on cracked branch
There is truth in the fable that wants you reversed
darkness renewed: not all those who are lost–
darkness reversed: not all those who are found–
embers wait, rain falls on thehare
frozen still on the road
Fly-fires at night: your eyes embers and ash
your hand on mine, shoulder blades sprouting wings
You are found
Federica Santini is a Professor of Italian & Interdisciplinary Studies at Kennesaw State University, where she serves as Chair of the Department of World Languages & Cultures. She holds a Ph.D. in Italian literature from UCLA & an M.A. in Modern Literatures (Laurea cum laude in Lettere Moderne) from the University of Siena, Italy. Her scholarly work & literary translations have been published in numerous journals & volumes in the U.S. & Italy, while her poetry & short fiction have appeared internationally in over 60 journals & anthologies. She has authored or co-edited six volumes, as well as a poetry chapbook, Unearthed (2021). Her second poetry chapbook, Other Alices, won the Fauxmoir Summer 2023 Chapbook Contest & is in press with Fauxmoir Press.