How to Save a Life

They collected everything

church intercessions

for the poor and the homeless

memorial cards from funeral services

Vatican stamps and mint quarter

collections of all fifty states

a model train of the Thirteen Colonies

illegible notes from a trip to Italy

letters sent home from college

English translations

of notes written in Italian

silver tea spoons from the ’76 tour

their wedding cake topper

her garter belt

the original catering

and bar receipt for $42.oo

stoic Norman Rockwell plates

rosy-cheeked Hummel figurines

newspaper articles

about miracles and saints

but it was children

they collected with the most pride

always bringing them

from faraway places

back into the fold

to a table set for seven

10/15/2011

Quiet Ripening

Here is the silence

grapes

in their fullness

before bursting off the vine

curdled milk of sheep

sometimes waiting ages

beneath old walnut leaves and ash

olives before October’s press

anticipating goodness

that will ooze

from their inner selves.

the crescent moon

tiptoeing up the craggy shadow

to surprise Mount Amiata

All around, silence

Even the wind

carries the quiet

and brings stillness

to its seat on the window sill.

© Annette Januzzi Wick

Castiglioncello del Trinoro, Italy, October, 2011