When Crickets Call

By Nancy Byrne Iannucci

The cosmos and zinnias look up at me
half smiling with fractured backs.
They know it’s their time to go.
The crickets call in sweet vibrations,
their gentle wings pluck the guzheng.
Hempstead Bay speaks Yangtze,
as my fingers push the pen in a circular 
planchette. I wonder, then, when death 
hums for me, will I accept it as gracefully.

Nancy Byrne Iannucci is the author of Temptation of Wood (Nixes Mate Review 2018) and Goblin Fruit (Impspired 2021). Her poems have appeared in numerous publications including Autumn Sky Poetry, Gargoyle, Bending Genres, Clementine Unbound, Dodging the Rain, 8 Poems, Glass: A Journal of Poetry (Poets Resist), Hobo Camp Review, and Typehouse Literary Magazine. Nancy is a Long Island, NY native who now resides in Troy, NY where she teaches history at the Emma Willard School. Web: https://www.nancybyrneiannucci.com/.