Simona Carini
Simona Carini: Born in Perugia, Italy, a graduate of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart (Milan, Italy) and of Mills College (Oakland, CA), Simona Carini writes nonfiction and poetry and has been published in various venues, in print and online. She lives in Northern California with her husband and works as an academic researcher in Medical Information Science. Her website is https://simonacarini.com
Rock and Light
I run among trees, the Pacific
rumbling behind morning
fog, the trail strewn with leaves
and small branches washed
down by storms, past vacant
campsites, picnic tables coated
with moss, empty benches—
no one watching the waves—a towering
rock, sparkling igneous
diamonds. Time deposits
layers on it, erodes them. The park
is mine: greens, browns, and
grays at the horizon. Refined by
quick breathing, I emerge mother
of pearl. As I turn, the sunlight
lancing through Sitka spruce
forms a fan of rays. As a child
I thought it was God.
I still do.
Life on the Edge
On the windblown bluff
splashed by salt spray
a tuft of Indian paintbrush—flames
of scarlet bracts—turned
the hostile slope into host.
Kelp-flavored air
in my lungs, I bloom here too.
Sheila-Na-Gig online 