Isabella Vitulli Poems – Witnessing life

A Local Starry Night

They seem brighter from this bus,

following its trembles and shakes.

They drift off and return,

cousins of tide.

Do they like me staring?

Or is the sensation usual,

being eyed down

like expensive silk

with silver, shiny beads.

Creatures, beings,

ones who populate

smooth, Argentine nights.

Who gently lull others to sleep

but keep me awake.

Can I help but be in awe

of the mobile before me?

The stars above us

who sleep for no one.

Illustration by Adriana Maxwell @Adriana.K.Maxwell

Watershed

My shoes were here before,

(they told me once,

only now I remember)

formed dents in concrete,

put stumbles into rocks,

grazed at tips of grass,

granted ripples to puddles,

walked from puddles to pools.

Muddy earth remembers the patterns.

Grooves sprinkle footprints

along paths like breadcrumbs,

sink down as roots.

My shoes have carried

seeds and dirt,

returning favors, dropping gifts,

sinking.

Towards crickets, earthworms,

rest and come up

like the first cotyledons.

Balcony View

So closely packed together,

houses resemble a woven tapestry,

colorful and suffocating one another.

Their colors drown.

Fog embraces them,

shifting forms like clouds.

A blink,

concrete-bound autumnal leaves,

shoeboxes of jewelry

(the kind your mother used to wear,

the kind she gave to you).

Now webs of moisture–

covering, hovering,

humid for winter.

I will forget these pictures

as foggy time

corrodes my mind.

“For me, poetry is a part of witnessing life. I use it to preserve memories, process feelings, and convey messages. Poetry is like a second pair of eyes for me. I strive to see occurrences in my daily life with this kind of view, to try and capture the unique way these events and objects. I believe every person sees things differently, and my work is a way of preserving these sights in a way in which others can see for themselves and contrast with their own. Apart from poetry, I read and sew in my free time.”