Sandi Sartorelli
How to hatch a phoenix
I am stable, on the meds and fully
functioning said Peter. Tina laughed
with the booming dinner gong,
boiled the jug, poured him a bourbon.
Served up a plate of macaroons,
each one independent, vulnerable.
Do you agree that window treatments
keep out excess sun? she asked
or is it better to raise the blind?
He gave her an egg for the table.
In pieces of shell he read her a story
of wholeness. She tossed a flaming
feather into the ashtray, and it took
a full two hours for the heat to ebb.
Sandi Sartorelli enjoys landscape poetry, but her own poems are usually portraits. She is a recent graduate of Whitireia New Zealand with a degree in Creative Writing. Her work has appeared in a number of publications including 4th Floor, Blackmail Press, JAAM, Renée’s Wednesday Busk and Shenandoah. Earlier this year, two of her poems were highly commended in the New Zealand Poetry Society Competition and the Caselberg Trust Poetry Competition. Another poem won second prize in the Upper Hutt Poetry Contest.