*
James de Crescentis is a poet and painter living in Boston, MA. His poems have been published in The Greenfield Review, New Letters, Fell Swoop, Ibbetson Street Press and other literary magazines. Pounding The Door Into Gray is his third chapbook collection of poems.

James de Crescentis

Vincenzo’s Song

Every day started the same
way, up before sunrise, his
black button-down sweater,
worn trousers, sturdy dark shoes
guiding him through the kitchen door
and into his determined, lush world.

When he left the old country
he wanted to farm America,
but he grew to accept the need
to replicate his dream
in an Upstate New York back-
yard. This carefully orchestrated
plot of ground, a fertile bed
of tomatoes, eggplant, green
peppers, lettuce, herbs, fruit
trees, roses—his sensitive
hands pruning and tending
a small city garden,
what seemed acres of land.

— James de Crescentis

_________________________________________
To have your work considered for the Lyrical send it to:
Doug Holder, 25 School St.; Somerville, MA 02143
dougholder@post.harvard.edu