Joan Leotta

Lemons in a Basket

On a blue-rimmed

kitchen window ledge,

in a white stucco and limestone

Portuguese village,

a basket of lemons

presents possibilities.

A hand pulls one in.

I hear the swish of a knife.

Pie? Lemonade?

One idea will be squeezed

Into reality.

Monet’s Hens

Pecking about the paint box garden

rosy red hens stand out among the

whites and yellows,

hide themselves amid the

sturdy reds, violets,

waiting for Monet to open the

gate to follow him across the road

to the water garden where they

can feast upon new varieties

of six-legged prey, clucking

among themselves over

waterlily beauty as they strut

across the green Japanese bridge

until Monet chases them back

to their house-side coop

or like his lilies, paints them on

canvas, using those colors they

are peck, peck, pecking away.

Joan Leotta is a writer and story performer who loves to travel! Her articles, essays, and poems have been widely publisehd, including in Hobocamp Review, The Ekphrastic Review, Washington Post, Sassee Magazine, and many others.  On stage, she tells personal and folk tales of food , family, travel, and strong women. Her favorite souveniers are photos, recipes, and seashells.