She walked into the living room
and saw the white peonies
on the table
from the Farmers’ Market

finally opened.

She said she wished
she were a snail
and could sleep
in all those petals,
wrap herself in them

in the middle of a dream.

Then she went to the kettle
to make peppermint tea.

And I thought:

I will write a poem about this
and stab the page

with a little tenderness.

For once.

---

Ryan Di Francesco is a Canadian writer and teacher with a BA in English Literature. He’s the Editor-in-Chief of Shadow and Sax, an emerging literary magazine, where his poetry and short fiction have appeared. His poems have been published or are forthcoming in Ink In Thirds, Bicoastal Review, Bitter Melon Review, SQUID Magazine, Rawhead, Azarão lit journal and more. His nonfiction and essays have appeared in The Toronto Star, The Hardball Times, and elsewhere. He also co-wrote the indie film Streets of Wonderland.