Poetry by Monalisa Maione

    Tripp CC



Quandary

Because when I think about it
it is a raincoat
under an umbrella
over boots

It is not, as I forgot to say
a means of fending off the rain

It is a way forward
a means of getting the wrong things
the dissonant things
to slide off 

It is, as I said before
a means of slipping through

The things we know we shouldn’t
acquiesce, yet, we do
even though they add, 
they add up
they add to

We don’t know any other 
way forward
it is not, as I said before
a means to being better

You like it to be liked
You like it to like yourself
You like it to pretend you don’t 
have a hand in it 

When all you have is a hand
And so many thumbs up
For so many things
That add up to nothing





​What I Know
 
I belly up to a table
spend the night
drinking vodka cranberry’s
from the girl in fishnets.
Banter with the Filipino
Guy who plays for a living
Hands High Let ‘em Fly
and nod to the Boxman.

I know I won the pass line 
bet on the come-out roll and
I know playing from the dark side
is risky if I want to make friends
but sometimes I do it anyway. 
Hard & horny doesn't mean
what you think it means, but
I know ten the hard way is still
a woman’s best friend.

Lay, push, come, don’t come.
Big Dick, Little Joe, like all
the men of my youth,
I know those dice have no memory.
They always make their way back to me,
but they are perfect strangers
every time I pick ‘em up.

I know when to place a lay bet.
I know if the numbers came hard.
I know entire evenings spent
tossing dice, tossing drinks,
tossing my hair, playing the field.
I know my kids are getting
themselves ready for school.
My money, my dignity
ten hours of precious,
dwindling life: vaporized.
Because of what I know.




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Monalisa Maione is a Pushcart-nominated poet and visual artist. She suffered a brainstem stroke which left her with neurodivergent aphasia, synesthesias and sometimes difficult neurological fluctuations previously unfamiliar to her. These symptoms inform her life in mysterious ways, and she lives her life hour by hour. Her poems have been accepted into the anthology “30 Years of the San Luis Obispo Poetry Festival,” “The Long Islander,” Great Weather for Media NYC “I Let Go of the Stars in My Hand,” “Cultural Weekly L.A.,” “The Fem” and “B O D Y.”  Monalisa is an accomplished reader, featuring at San Francisco’s Beat Museum, Beyond Baroque in Venice Beach, The San Luis Obispo Poetry Festival, The Tanta International Poetry Forum in Egypt where her work is translated into Arabic, Culture Rapide for Paris Lit Up, and Au Chat Noir/La Cave Cafe Spoken Word in Paris, France (where she also resides). Poetry is her constant companion. 
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