Julia Lisella a brief history

a brief history

we were little and we were dark and there were so many of us speaking our guttural dialects and unable to speak to each other we descended like goblins from the bowls of the ships that brought us here eyes tearing from the smoke and the smells we were stunned by the movement of the streets

we were greeted by spit and smoke and a swift tongue & in it we were wop and guinea and grease ball we were given a lynching and then we were given a holiday we were given a key to a renaissance Italy so we were music we were makers we were lovers we were famous

we were Giovanna to Jenny, Pietro to Pete, Francesco to Frankie we were Philomena to Phil, Giulio to Jules we were quiet when the man with the ships became a story in a history book he had ships he had rhymes we had parades we had a holiday from the grime and the news stories that we were radicals we were troublemakers we were little and we were dark

Julia Lisella

Julia Lisella is the author of two poetry collections, Always and Terrain, and the chapbook Love Song Hiroshima. Poems are forthcoming or have appeared in Ploughshares, Paterson Literary Review, Prairie Schooner and others.