by Nicole Santalucia
I always thought my last name came from a boat
that sailed across the world
but I was confused
that was the Santa Maria
not that my name hasn’t traveled on boats
or shined shoes
or sewed the soles of feet
back onto soldiers
who’ve been shot down
Santalucia is the train station
and the train
it is the mountain
and the grazing cow
it is the boy scout
wearing his sash
the baker
and the bartender
It is the grapes and the wine
the cork and bottle
tucked in someone’s suitcase
traveling through Italy
It is what I whisper
when I sit at the river’s edge
Nicole Santalucia received her MFA from The New School University and her PhD in English from Binghamton University. She won the 2013 Ruby Irene Chapbook Prize from Arcadia Magazine Inc. for Driving Yourself to Jail in July—published in January 2014. Nicole teaches at Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania.
Hawaii Pacific Review 