Daffodils
By Nancy B Iannucci
The churning,
and turning in your stomach
when the call doesn’t come
is like winter thawing into spring.
And when spring finally arrives,
you will seek council once again from the daffodils,
goddesses of the muddy mound, bright and all-knowing.
Their trumpets will tell you to stop believing in the myths of ancient love.
They will advise you to strengthen your skin like bark on a Giant Sequoia
and to be confident like the Redwoods.
What is yours will stay like the Himalayas, and what is not
will wither with the leaves in autumn.
Nancy Byrne Iannucci is a librarian and poet who lives with her two cats: Nash and Emily Dickinson. THRUSH Poetry Journal, Allegro Poetry Magazine, Eunoia, Maudlin House, San Pedro River Review, 34 Orchard, Bending Genres, and Typehouse, are some places you will find her. She is the author of four chapbooks, Temptation of Wood (Nixes Mate Review, 2018), Goblin Fruit (Impspired, 2021), Primitive Prayer (Plan B Press, fall 2022), and Hummingbirds and Cigarettes ( Bottlecap Press, 2024).