In(con)trovertible

LINDA SIMONE

April 23, 2020

— March 24, 2020

Because I heed my inner music,

speak with pigment or words

I proclaim myself introvert.

In a hummingbird’s wingbeat, hours fly.

In pockets of solitude, 

loyalty only to the page. But life changes.

I dance a jig to my husband’s Good morning,

treasure bowls of penne, view The Valkyries.

His embrace like a slow, deep breath.

We crave the river, daily dose

of mountain laurel, blooming rose.

Pom-Pom ducks congregate—social distancing ignored. 

My new-found extrovert delights 

in email, phone, Zoom

while voices of newscasters drone—a dirge, a balm.

LINDA SIMONE’S most recent poetry collection is The River Will Save Us (Kelsay Books, 2018). Her work has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies including Poets to Come (Local Gems Press), commemorating Walt Whitman’s Bicentennial. Her poetry and art have flourished since moving from New York to San Antonio.