I can no longer recall the joke
it was made many years ago
but there was my uncle in the kitchen
with a finger on the roof of his mouth
saying the words peanut butter
and my parents were laughing
and my aunt was laughing
and I was laughing so hard
that for forty odd years
I have heard that laughter
and secretly called him my favorite uncle
because what's better than making
someone laugh so hard
that the image becomes a place
in the body where
laughter never stops
Ostia in Spring
Ostia in early spring
drinking at the mouth of the Tiber
how many poets have stood on your shore
without permission
asking for the secret to their existence
to the magic of the rain and the flowers
and how many more, half a world away,
have wondered how you know?
Bionote
Joe Love is an artist, musician, and poet living in St. Louis. He teaches writing and literature both east and west of the Arch at Saint Louis University and Lindenwood-Belleville University. His work has appeared in or is forthcoming from Poetry Super Highway, The Oddville Press, Crack the Spine, Bangalore Review, From the Depths, Drunk Monkeys, Bellowing Ark, and other journals.
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