inspired by “Young Woman Sewing in a Garden,” Mary Cassatt, c. 1880-82
She could be any ordinary woman
engaged in lace-making, perhaps
tatting the edge of a handkerchief,
sitting dully in a shady spot among
a handful of poppy-bright flowers.
Intent on her task, she is oblivious
to the verdant shrubbery around her,
summer’s cloud of tepid breath.
She does not dissolve into the scene,
does not become one with the garden,
or filter herself through blossom,
but remains contained within herself.
Her plain gray dress closes around her,
leaving bare only her arms, wrists,
and hands free to engage in sewing
the tiny square of fabric that is
her raison d’être, its soft material
gathering her dreams in the task
of the moment.
The graveled path behind her
provides a horizontal stripe of dusty beige
through a haze of trees. She could easily
run away from her nearly motionless
existence, but refuses to consider escape,
her delicate labors calling her from the heart,
or not.
Donna Pucciani has been been published on four continents in such diverse journals as International Poetry Review, Spoon River Poetry Review, The Pedestal, nebu[lab], Italian Americana, Journal of the American Medical Association, Poetry Salzburg, Shichao Poetry, Istanbul Literary Review and Christianity and Literature. Her poetry has been translated into Chinese, Japanese and Italian, and has won awards from the Illinois Arts Council and The National Federation of State Poetry Societies, among others. She has been nominated five times for the Pushcart Prize and currently serves as Vice-President of the Poets’ Club of Chicago. A list of her eight poetry books can be found on her website.
Sparks of Calliope 