where i live
September morning. Gun blasts echo darkly over fields
of cabbage that swell like Ontario’s blue-green waves.
The tractor sputters; then stalls. The osprey, unaware of
hunters in the blind, flies overhead with its bright fish
trapped in its talons. A dog barks incessantly; then gives
up when a hand touches his wide forehead. No need to
explain how natural this is. I accept what happens here,
like the way I accept the clouds’ shadow that has passed
over our orchard for the last thirty years. I understand how
foreign it is to someone who expects something else.
M.J. Iuppa is the Director of the Visual and Performing Arts Minor Program and Lecturer in Creative Writing at St. John Fisher College; and since 2000 to present, is a part time lecturer in Creative Writing at The College at Brockport. Since 1986, she has been a teaching artist, working with students, K-12, in Rochester, NY, and surrounding area. Most recently, she was awarded the New York State Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Adjunct Teaching, 2017. She has four full length poetry collections, This Thirst (Kelsay Books, 2017), Small Worlds Floating (2016) as well as Within Reach (2010) both from Cherry Grove Collections; Night Traveler (Foothills Publishing, 2003); and 5 chapbooks. She lives on a small farm in Hamlin NY. Note: This poem has been published in Like Light, 25 Years of Poetry & Prose By Bright Hills Poets & Writers, edited by Bertha Rogers, Bright Hills Press. December, 2017.
