Tango Nuevo

By M.J. Iuppa

In sheer daylight, spider’s silk
trembles like a guitar string

plucked to the tune of swallows’
wings dipping in & out and over-

head— their electricity warns
the gray cat to hurry across

our yard, hardly casting a shadow
in his trot to full gallop & leap

over netting into a row of carrots
where I am bent to the precision of

pulling weeds. The cat rubs his
forehead against my shins & falls

flat onto my work. He yawns wide
enough to show his perfectly sharp

teeth issuing a warning not to touch
his flank, too close to his tail— his

sensitivity makes him reel back
& strike when I least expect it.

 

 

About Author:

M.J. Iuppa  is the Director of the Visual and Performing Arts Minor Program and Lecturer in Creative Writing at St. John Fisher College; and since 2000 to present, is a part time lecturer in Creative Writing at The College at Brockport. Since 1986, she has been a teaching artist, working with students, K-12, in Rochester, NY, and surrounding area. Most recently, she was awarded the New York State Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Adjunct Teaching, 2017. She has four full length poetry collections, forthcoming This Thirst (Kelsay Books, 2017), Small Worlds Floating (2016) as well as Within Reach (2010) both from Cherry Grove Collections; Night Traveler (Foothills Publishing, 2003); and 5 chapbooks. She lives on a small farm in Hamlin NY.