Crossing Over

Smashwords Edition

by

Joy Arnett

Copyright 2010

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy for $9.99. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Attraversiamo (Crossing Over)

I am reading a book about a woman gone traveling

Today I am in Rome amid Pantheon ruins and naked women carved of stone

Fountains with tinkling bubbling melodies

Sunshine streaming through pizzeria windows

I have smelled basil fresh and green and eaten mozzarella

Made of buffalo’s milk

And thick crusts of bread flavored with rosemary and olive oil

I am sated; content to remain in my reader’s world

I have adopted this woman’s favorite Italian word as my own

Attraversiamo

Today it has meant anything and everything to me

I made it my reply

To every question

I added a small Italian shoulder shrug to make it believable

My husband rolled his eyes

Right before he smiled

I called my daughter Bella

She smiled at me too when I told her it meant that

She was beautiful

I have of late been trying very hard

To learn French

But my words twist around one another on their way from tongue to air

Changing without my permission into the long and soft A’s of Spanish