Named Poet Laureate for the League of Minnesota Poets, 2025 to 2027, Annette Gagliardi has poetry in over fifty anthologies; has work published in hundreds of magazines online and in-print since the 1980’s. Ponderosa Pines: Days of the Deadwood Forest Fire won the PenCraft award for literary Excellence. Her first poetry book, A Short Supply of Viability was published in 2022 through the Poetry Box. Her chapbook, titled: Caffeinated, published through the Island of Wak-Wak has won the Literary Titan Gold Book Award for 2024 and an International Impact Best Book Award in April of 2025. She has just won the John C. Rezmerski manuscript award, for her book, Benevolence which will launch in April of 2026.
See her website: https://annette-gagliardi.com
Hiding in my luggage are two
bottles of Merlot, Swiss Chocolate
and a Pinocchio Marionette
debating the wisdom of traveling
to distant lands where one finds
such mysteries
and where one can dine on the Pope’s Beef
Benedict with its juxtaposition
of seared meat and raw taste,
which I ate for supper, along with a red wine
so full and voluptuous, like the women in Rome
who bare their bosoms to the sun,
who sing to the angels and plant their pomegranates
of spring in hopes of a good harvest.
Let us remember their sacrifice.
Let us send our gratitude skyward to a God
who would provide such riches and Thanks
Be to God that we can view the road our ancestors
traveled, learn from their journey, and build on
the wisdom unearthed.
For other contributions by Annette Gagliardi, please follow the link below:
Poetry in this post: © Annette Gagliardi
Published with the permission of Annette Gagliardi