Broccoli

by Rina Ferrarelli

I like them best stir-fried,
the bushy green tops,
with oil and garlic
and a blessing of salt.
I feel I'm eating trees,
hardwoods
as seen from the air--
marrow and sinew
and the way
they reach for light
in any kind of weather.

From: 
Poetry International




Rina Ferrarelli's picture

ABOUT THE POET ~
Rina Ferrarelli came from Italy (Calabria), at the age of fifteen. She was awarded degrees in English from Mount Mercy College (now Carlow University ) and Duquesne University, and taught English and translation studies at the University of Pittsburgh for many years., She has published a chapbook and four books of original and translated poetry, the most recent Winter Fragments: Selected Poems of Bartolo Cattafi, (Chelsea Editions, 2006). The Bread We Ate, another collection of original poetry, is forthcoming from Guernica Editions., Her poems have won awards at local and international competitions, and were nominated for best American poetry. She received an NEA grant, and the Italo Calvino Prize from the Columbia University Translation Center., Her own poems have also appeared in publications such as these:, Along these Rivers: Poetry and Photography from Pittsburgh (Quadrant Publishing, LLC, 2008); American Sports Poems (Orchard Books, 1988), BSU Forum, Barrow Street, The Chariton Review, Chelsea, College English, The Critic, 5 A.M., Italian Americana, Images, Kansas Quarterly, Kindled Terraces: American Poets in Greece (Truman State University Press, 2004), Kiss Me Goodnight (Siren Book Co, 2005), Knowing Stones: Poems of Exotic Places (John Gordon Burke Publishers, 2000), Larger than Life (Black Moss Press, 2002), The Laurel Review, Line Drives (Southern Illinois University Press, 2002), The MacGuffin, Main Street Rag, Mss. Magazine, The Milk of Almonds (The Feminist Press, 2002), The Panhandler, Paper Street, Paterson Literary Review, Pennsylvania English, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, The Pittsburgh Quarterly, Poet Lore, Pyramid Magazine, Poetry NOW, Tar River Poetry, VIA, West Branch, Wild Dreams. The best of Italian Americana (Fordham University Press, 2008);poetrymagazine.com, canwehaveourballback.com, triplopia.com, and in many other journals and anthologies, including several textbooks.


Last updated May 21, 2011