Small Is Beautiful

by Gabriella Bedetti


Running across
a railway overpass
in full sun,
I startled a mouse.

With no hesitation,
he took a hard right
and ran top speed off
the side of the bridge,

clearing it by two feet,
plunked on the tracks,
and, slightly shocked,
walked away.


* * * * *

Gabriella Bedetti's essays, poems, and translations have appeared or are forthcoming in New Literary History, Still, Gravel, Asymptote, Ezra, and Rhino. She is a professor of English at Eastern Kentucky University. She received an Artistic Enrichment Grant from the Kentucky Foundation for Women to work on a poetry collection exploring issues of aging and ageism. With two student assistants, she is leading a Collecting Memories Circle at a local retirement community. In June, you can find her blogging on https://lexpomo.com/. She and her spouse are translating Henri Meschonnic’s poems from the French. https://gabriellabedetti.wordpress.com/.