If I Had Stayed in Venice
by Marietta Calvanico
If I had stayed in Venice, I could
wake up tomorrow and think about calling you,
I would be able to do that, but I wouldn’t
actually call you because you wouldn’t approve,
still thinking of it as an overseas call.
No doubt my small lion would be pacing out
his usual path between his preferred front window location
and my abandoned bed,
he has no use for loneliness
and he would be so angry about my absence.
If I had stayed in Venice, I would
have had the time to memorize
those unexpected gardens punctuating
the ends of narrow passages,
my own garden, not visible to me, overgrown with weeds.
If there is any place where my personal tragedies
are simply not welcome,
it must be Venice,
water rising high in the spring
as I wait for the sun to return.
About the POet
Marietta Calvanico has lived a rich and varied life. She built a career in advertising/marketing, worked with her architect husband in client relations and agency work, raised a daughter who is a teacher, and played bass in late-night bars. Her poetry, fiction, and memoir pieces have appeared online and in print. Among her most recent publications is a double broadside entitled Requiem, published by Ink Publications.