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February 25, 2021

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en temps de peste

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Salami Is Your Talisman

  • September 8, 2020
  • 11:13 am
  • California
It penetrates your ritual afternoon nap/ and you are temporarily healed/ by this dish, with its salt
20190522_024923

Gabriella Miotto

If you enjoy this piece, please consider a small donation to the author. You can find the link to their personal Venmo/PayPal profile (or a donation fund of their choice) in the byline below.

https://infectionhouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/2020_09_06_14_13_12.mp3

 

Salami Is Your Talisman

                           for my parents

 

The word arises during an Italian lunch

of yeasted bread and mortadella we share

across the metal screen of your bedroom window

mask removed, you indoors, me outdoors.

Thank God you’re on the first floor

not hovering on a second or 13th.

 

You want salami next time.

 

It penetrates your ritual afternoon nap

and you are temporarily healed

by this dish, with its salt

now streaming down face as tears,

calling out to your long-dead friend Carlo

provider of fermented meats and cheeses

and conversations that cure loneliness.

 

And perhaps he is here again with you

as you try to rise from bed to greet him

strong in that moment, leg and shoulder

unfettered by fracture and fear,

warmed by this cold cut made for times

of meager portions.

 

You put face and hands against the window,

and I become a palm reader.

 

Gabriella Miotto
My name is Gabriella Miotto, and I am a family physician working in community medicine in California, who sees poetry as a language of the shamanic, and imagery as an underused tool in the exam room. Some of my previous poetry has been published in anthologies: “Plague 2020: COVID-19 Art and Poetry from Around the World”, an anthology compiled by Mahnaz Badihian (MahMag, 2020), “Nasty Women and Bad Hombres: A Poetry Anthology” (Lascaux Editions 2017), “Pop Art: An Anthology of Southern California Poetry” (Moon Tide Press, 2010). If you like this poem, please gift, with the ink from your pen, a personal letter to an elder in isolation.

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One Response

  1. Janie Ingalls says:
    09/25/2020 at 8:33 PM

    I love this Italian-flavored personal poem. Gabriella speaks of ritual meals and love of family and friendship that transcend the physical realm of living and dying. During this pandemic, Gabriella’s poetic memories take on deep meaning to all of us who love.

    Reply

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