JOHN P. PORTELLI

 

 

In-Between

 

It is hard to live in the in-between

when the in-between cradles the past

which I believed to have been put aside

like a garbage bag in a deserted field

hidden between the cliffs and the sea,

between what you believed to have loved

and what you love today, between here and there,

between ‘how are you?’ and ‘is all well?’,

rocking like a ripe cumin plant

between one bay and another,

moving like the sea between one island and another.

It is tough to live in the in-between

when the in-between is hidden

between what is and fiction,

between the wretched thoughts and the vicious feelings.

Maybe today I will be able to relax

in the water flowing

from one step

to another.

 

Elegy For The Uprooted

 

Forever staring at a sky

lit by fireworks of a feast that resists an end.

And now you dare to invite me to accompany you

to the beach, where tonight,

the sea is endlessly lapping on the shore,

the calming sound

composed only for us,

reminding us of the elegy of the uprooted.

 

And when I attempted to write their story,

the ink of the pen stained

my finger, and all I could do was

hum.

JOHN P. PORTELLI

 

JOHN P. PORTELLI, originally from Malta, is a professor emeritus at the University of Toronto.  He has published twelve collections of poetry, two collections of short stories (one translated into English and published as Everyday Encounters), and a novel, Everyone but Faiza (Burlington, ON: Word and Deed, 2021). His literary work has been translated into Italian, Romanian, Greek, Farsi, Arabic, Spanish, Korean, English, Farsi, Portuguese, and Polish. His collection ‘Here Was’ was short-listed for the Canadian Book Club Award.  Five of his books have been short-listed for the Malta Book Council Annual Literary Award. He now lives between Toronto and Malta, and beyond!