Issue 5.1
Winter 2025
JoAnna Scandiffio
Everything is a Mix
of what you eat how you brush your teeth
if you are late or last in line
or first to wear your skirt too short
how the mix swerves is moot
just make do with what’s left on the plate
when you don’t have white clay
paint earthenware pots blue and white
make a bowl you aren’t afraid of breaking
like tradition or your grandmother’s bible
everything is a mix of Judo Christian Hindu
Pan American Southwestern
even the air is filled with Old Masters
who gave up whaling ships for electric blue
once the sky is streaked bird feathers splatter
a soup can becomes a masterpiece
the background more interesting
your old blue and white china cup
a toothbrush holder
JoAnna Scandiffio is a gemologist living in San Francisco. Her poems are like bird nests, made with fragments randomly connected to hold the moment. She is like the old medieval monks who copied out verses in colored inks so the world could sing forever. Her work has appeared in Calyx, The Poeming Pigeon, Poets 11, Sugared Water, The MacGuffin, Italian Americana, The RavensPerch, The Ekphrastic Review and other journals. Longlisted for the Frontier Poetry Ekprahastic Prize. Finalist for the 2024 Jane Underwood Poetry Prize. Her chapbook water is never still is forthcoming from Finishing Line Press.
JoAnna's Book Recommendations
​C D Wright Deepstep Come Shining
Naomi Shihab Nye Words Under the Words
Ocean Vuong On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous
anything by Anne Carson and Emily Dickinson.