RYAN DI FRANCESCO
THE TRAIN PASSES VACANT LOTS
I see them in the black feathers
between your teeth.
Metal nerves shriek
near the soggy fence.
Slugs. Frogs. Snails.
They undress stones.
Night is made of cells.
Pierre Reverdy is reflected in the oval attic window.
Pull up a chair.
The kids scream:
Get out of here, Dr. Frankenstein.
Brain pulp examined
in a glass jar.
Van Gogh painted
the soul in it.
A row of pollard windows.
Cold, stiff cabbages.
Trampled grass
by the side of the road.
A glimpse
into a corner
of the house.
Two impressions
in one.
Ryan Di Francesco (he/him) is a Canadian poet, writer, teacher, and co-founder of Shadow & Sax Press. His journalism has appeared in The Toronto Star, and his poetry and fiction have appeared or are forthcoming in PRISM international, Poetry Pause (League of Canadian Poets), The /tƐmz/ Review, Acta Victoriana, Pacific Review, ExPat Press, Pinhole Poetry, The Apple Valley Review, Luna Luna Magazine, Puddles of Sky Press, and elsewhere.
He is the author of several chapbooks, including Mirage of Burning Things (Parlyaree Press) and A Dead Idea Between Four Lines (Hit a Snare Press), with dove/fish forthcoming from above/ground press. His collections Along Tongues Full of Time (Ethel Press) and Let the Dogs Have It (Parlyaree Press) are forthcoming in 2027.
Di Francesco was shortlisted for the Rhonda Gail Williford Poetry Prize and is a full member of the League of Canadian Poets.