Last night we covered the azaleas
and peonies with sheets. The wind
tossed them to the ground like Kleenex.
I tied the corners with twine and weighed
the lowest edges with stones. Before
turning out the lights for sleep,
I zipped on my coat and checked them
a final time. There is little I can do
shivering in the wind except wait
for my work to unravel,
as often it has, as finally it will.
—
Al Ortolani is a winner of the 2019 Rattle Chapbook Prize and has been featured in Garrison Keillor’s Writer’s Almanac, Ted Kooser’s American Life in Poetry, and George Bilgere’s Poetry Town. In 2024 he was the recipient of the Bill Hickok Humor Award from I-70 Review. Currently, he’s a contributing poetry editor to the Chiron Review.
