My friend’s dead father
visits her as a bird,
but my husband is the light in the kitchen
that comes on all by himself,
and I see I’ve written himself
instead of itself. Just when I’d decided
to call an electrician and stop talking
to the dead and gone
there he is on the page,
Howard himself,
and the light still burns.
Ellen Romano is a retired educator and widow living in Hayward, California where she enjoys frequent visits with her children and grandchildren. She is the winner of Third Wednesday’s 2023 Poetry Prize, Ink Nest Poem of the Month, and several awards from the Ina Coolbrith Circle. Other work has appeared in, Lascaux Review, december magazine, Naugatuck River Review, and other publications.
