John L. Stanizzi

POND

5.6.19
11.32 a.m.
55 degrees

Profligacies in orange and black, black and red, white and white, white and yellow,
officers of influence, their color remains after they have flown, and the toads are a
nimbus of sound in the bright afternoon, their chirring rising and rising to a stop, a
dialogue, a harmony, a synchronization of spring’s opus played, revised, played again.

 

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“They are from a project called POND. These short poems are acrostics. This is a one-year-long project. Everyday, at different times during the day, I visit our pond with notebook and camera in hand. I jot down some notes, and take a picture or two, if a good photo op. presents itself. Then I head home and write a four line acrostic using the letters P, O, N, and D.  I do not use any of my first words more than once. I need a different P, O, N, and D word every day for a year; I began the book on November 9, 2018 and will complete it on November 9, 2019.”

John L. Stanizzi is author of Ecstasy Among Ghosts, Sleepwalking, Dance Against the Wall, After the Bell, Hallelujah Time!, High Tide – Ebb Tide, Four Bits – Fifty 50-Word Pieces, and Chants. His poems have appeared in Prairie Schooner, American Life in Poetry, The New York Quarterly, and many others. His newest book. Sundowning, will be out later this year with Main Street Mag.