Salento Skies

the me I see

ever shifting

like a Salento sky

in winter

promising

bright

fair

light

then winds shift

and blue

turns gray

thoughts turn cloudy

rain dismay

the me I feel

ever altered

falters

like an ancient olive tree

sick with disease

yet green

still growing

from gnarled base

willful

to keep living

keep creating

ignore

the ills

outwit self-hating

know that winds

will soon reveal sun

bid fair

clear the air

better days

new ways

to nurture the soul

mend the me

if just for a spell

knowing well

clouds will gather again

time unrelenting

bad stretches ahead

blow winds

blow

bring more good days

instead

enough to yield fruit

from the mind’s

new shoots

arising

from the twisted roots

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Author: Anne Celano Frohna

I have been writing for as long as I could hold a pencil in hand and would not feel complete without it. And I actually made a meager living at it (and as an editor) for 25 years. I worked for newspapers and magazines, in graphic arts and advertising, and wrote several local history books. But I have also taught English in Japan, been a Nanny/family chef in Italy, worked in and for museums, was an Airbnb Superhost for four years, as well as an Etsy shop owner, where I sold vintage items I found over the years at thrift stores and yard sales. After moving to Arizona with my family in 2010, I completed a series of different writing projects, including two books of creative non-fiction: Just West of the Midwest: a comedy (Based on journals I kept during my two years as an English teacher in rural Japan.) Within Close Range: short stories of an American Childhood (Short stories and poems about growing up as the middle of five children in suburban Chicago.) But in the past few years, I have found my voice in poetry. I am a mother of two wonderful girls, Eva (26) and Sophia (24) and wife to one wonderful husband, Kurt. In 2023, with our girls grown and off on their own, my husband and I packed up our things and moved to the tip of Italy’s heel, to the Salento region, where I continue to work on my poetry, as well as a new fiction project, and indulge in my passion for mosaics - all of which you can view on my Instagram page @ acfrohna.