Vox Populi
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Donna Hilbert: Two Poems
Risotto
Down again. Tonight, it’s the purple
of heirloom tomatoes,
I slice into olive oil, garlic, red-bell pepper,
short-grained rice, a pinch of saffron
or two. I add broth one ladle at a time.
I stir the rice and I am stirred
by Beethoven sonatas
alive in the fingers of Emil Gilels,
and stirred too by the winter setting that fills
the window I look through to the sea
from my station at the stove.
When the Waldstein Sonata begins,
I cry into the copper-clad skillet
I use for sautéing petrale sole
and for making frittata and risotto.
No need for a special pan.
No need to steep a broth from scratch,
bouillon paste from a jar, plus water, will do.
Beethoven wrote thirty-two piano sonatas.
Emil Gilels recorded all but five
before he died unexpectedly in Moscow.
Sviatoslav Richter believed the KGB
had killed him, fearing he would defect to the West.
You might add lemon zest, capers, or olives,
if your risotto needs more zing.
All that really matters is the stirring
until every bit is tender, add broth, stir.
~~~
Rosemary
You are the rosemary I add to the soup:
how you pressed pungent bristles
between thumb and finger,
how you lay sprigs atop red potatoes
glistening in olive oil, salt,
house alive with the fragrance
of vegetables roasting
on any given day of the week.
1,095 days past your death, young one,
I sometimes escape the earthquake
of absence upon awakening,
but daily remembrance, I never escape:
today, it was rosemary, yesterday,
blue sea glass washed up at my feet.
Copyright 2022 Donna Hilbert. Risotto first published in Gyroscope. Rosemary first published in ONE ART. Both poems collected in Threnody, (Moon Tide Press, 2022).
Donna Hilbert’s latest book is Threnody, from Moon Tide Press, 2022. Enormous Blue Umbrella is forthcoming from Moon Tide in late 2024. Work has appeared in Cultural Daily, Gyroscope, Rattle, Sheila Na Gig, ONE ART, Vox Populi, and anthologies including The Poetry of Presence volumes I & II, The Path to Kindness, The Wonder of Small Things, I Thought I Heard a Cardinal Sing.
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“the earthquake / of absence”–those open vowels which mirror the opening in the heart 💔
Beautiful poems.
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Thanks, Lisa. Yes, they are beautiful.
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Congratulations! I love both of these, remember them from Threnody. They are haunting. I especially like the last couplet of “Rosemary”
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❤️❤️❤️❤️🙏
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Your poetry for all of us who have lost loved ones. Thank you Donna Hilbert
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Yes, thank you, Donna!
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Oh friend, i love them both–the stirring and being stirred. The unrhymed sonnet form for the rosemary and sea glass is somehow so right, a form missing something essential, the noticing how everything is a doorway to remembrance …
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Exactly. Thanks Rose Mary!
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Thank you som much, dear Rosemerry!
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Oh I love these poems. Thank you.
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Bittersweet to awake to olive oil and rosemary the rosemary has grown out of control in the backyard visited by bees and memories. What is it about scent that makes memories so visceral? I didn’t want to get up yesterday but I did and will repeat today. Gravity against old legs pulling stronger, hoping to disperse despondency, scent of garlic and olive oil and rosemary please pull me up.
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It’s lovely that you are praying to garlic, olive oil and rosemary for strength, Barbara.
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Thank you all so much. I am overjoyed to awaken to being included in Vox Populi!
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Thank you for sharing your poems with us, Donna!
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“I sometimes escape the earthquake
of absence upon awakening,
but daily remembrance, I never escape:”
How this moves me.
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Beautiful lines, and yet her voice is so natural we have no trouble accepting the wild metaphor “escape the earthquake of absence.”
M.
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Thanks you so much!
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Thank you so much❤️
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These poems! And it is Saturday and people are coming over today to watch the “Air Show” from over the pasture and I’m supposed to get up early and fix collard greens for everybody first thing and I will put on some music and go out to the garden and fetch some Rosemary, to put in the greens, all because of Donna Hilbert.
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Lovely, Sean.
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I am so moved by your response! Thanks so much.
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Your poem called “Rosemary” is absolutely beautiful and so poignant. What a wonderful way to memorialize someone. Thank you for such a moving suggestion that reaches even the remote edges as well as the molten core of grief.
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YES!!!!
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Thank you so much for your kind words.
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