Al Ortolani

Stopped at the Gate

It is easy to forget we are fragile
without skullcaps, without sweaters,
without television to tell the stories
          that warm us.

In the snow I pee a sketch
like a boy. It is a refugee’s boat, medieval,
with a shallow prow, and beside
          the single mast

the dribble of all that can be saved
in a shipwreck. All that freezes
in deep cold. All that melts
          when it thaws.

There’s a rumor that Jesus
could walk on water, right through
these walls, your iron gate
          a mirage of fish.

Al Ortolani’s poetry has appeared in journals such as Rattle, New York Quarterly, Prairie Schooner, One Art Poetry Journal, Main Street Rag, Chiron Review, and many others. His most recent poetry collection is The Taco Boat, published by New York Quarterly Books in 2022. His first novel Bull in the Ring will soon be released by Meadowlark Books in Emporia, Kansas. He currently lives in the Kansas City area with his wife and brilliant dog, Stanley.