I Write About You A Lot, Annette
Sienna Gallus
Sienna Gallus
Dandelion salads tossed
Piano keys stuck
I can barely remember
the you that didn’t need food cut up into infantile pieces
My head hurts finding fractions before then
But I have adored you.
Sun-spotted
Fills up cookie tins
Italian grandmothers do not let you go hungry
but I am hungry now.
You forget my name from across the kitchen table
It's Sienna, Nona.
This was the last supper.
It smells like piss now.
You would have never let the house get this dirty.
And him
Tobacco breath
$20 pressed into the palm of my hand
Fed us blueberries from his garden
A plot brought up with kindness, finally.
In him I see the sin you prayed away.
It lived with you, watched tv with you
Nona, now you’re gone.
And your Patsy keeps a sledgehammer on the nightstand
sharpens knives
dreams of immigrants next door breaking in.
Nona, your Certificate of US Citizenship is tucked away
Nona, I still love him.
strapped to a hospital bed
fragmented
Murderous
He does not deserve you but you are gone
So I love him for you.
I went to your house today
for the first time since my grandfather slept next to a gun
The kitchen is the same, the velvet upholstery
But they scrapped the piano.
tea cups, rosary, ripped away
300 empty mason jars
These beds will not be slept in anymore.
I want you to help fill these empty rooms
And take your things out of these boxes,
Make your biscotti,
Remember my name.
Nona,
tell me stories of Italy
now that I can listen
Come say grace over dandelion salad. I won’t make a face
like I did when I was young
It can be the same, Nona.
we can have more time.
the screen door slams like a period post-eulogy
This house wasn’t perfect, but it was ours. all of ours.
you were ours.
Nona, you made me believe in heaven
but this feels like hell.
Piano keys stuck
I can barely remember
the you that didn’t need food cut up into infantile pieces
My head hurts finding fractions before then
But I have adored you.
Sun-spotted
Fills up cookie tins
Italian grandmothers do not let you go hungry
but I am hungry now.
You forget my name from across the kitchen table
It's Sienna, Nona.
This was the last supper.
It smells like piss now.
You would have never let the house get this dirty.
And him
Tobacco breath
$20 pressed into the palm of my hand
Fed us blueberries from his garden
A plot brought up with kindness, finally.
In him I see the sin you prayed away.
It lived with you, watched tv with you
Nona, now you’re gone.
And your Patsy keeps a sledgehammer on the nightstand
sharpens knives
dreams of immigrants next door breaking in.
Nona, your Certificate of US Citizenship is tucked away
Nona, I still love him.
strapped to a hospital bed
fragmented
Murderous
He does not deserve you but you are gone
So I love him for you.
I went to your house today
for the first time since my grandfather slept next to a gun
The kitchen is the same, the velvet upholstery
But they scrapped the piano.
tea cups, rosary, ripped away
300 empty mason jars
These beds will not be slept in anymore.
I want you to help fill these empty rooms
And take your things out of these boxes,
Make your biscotti,
Remember my name.
Nona,
tell me stories of Italy
now that I can listen
Come say grace over dandelion salad. I won’t make a face
like I did when I was young
It can be the same, Nona.
we can have more time.
the screen door slams like a period post-eulogy
This house wasn’t perfect, but it was ours. all of ours.
you were ours.
Nona, you made me believe in heaven
but this feels like hell.
//
Sienna Gallus (she/they) is a queer, 11th grade, literary artist who attends Lehigh Valley Charter School for the Arts. She is very passionate about advocating for mental health, feminism, and exploration through introspection. In her free time, Sienna loves to travel, roller skate, enjoy nature and spend time with her friends and family.
Sienna Gallus (she/they) is a queer, 11th grade, literary artist who attends Lehigh Valley Charter School for the Arts. She is very passionate about advocating for mental health, feminism, and exploration through introspection. In her free time, Sienna loves to travel, roller skate, enjoy nature and spend time with her friends and family.