The One Thing

 by  Madelaine Nerson MacNamara  © 2013

At table my manners

Are a cause for concern.

I splay down, suction

Crumbs, juices, gravy

Or hold up saucy plates

Hoover them with my tongue.

I hear the voices wink:

"What would your Granny say?"

But that is the ONE thing

That's never worried me.

Didn't I guess you'd say:

"Go for it, my pirate!"

Fireworks

New Year's Eve in Sicily   by Musetta Joyce © 2013

Sicilians love fireworks, as indeed do most Italians, particularly in the south, Naples being the most frenetic. During the 2012-2013 New Year's Eve celebrations two people were killed and five hundred injured by fireworks in their own homes. For, although, using funds from door to door collections, the major firework displays occur during the celebration of local saints' feste following the processions, the main explosion of coloured sparks occurs on New Year's Eve from private houses. Because this is the night when practically every home with a balcony vies with one another for quality and quantity of the giocchi di fuoco (fire games), and every year children die or suffer serious injuries.

TOAST

©  2013    by Madelaine Nerson MacNamara

For Ann Mc Donagh and all her family in thankfulness for their wonderful friendship


When our friends visit
The party starts as
They knock at the door.
No cake or biscuit
In the tin today
But the kitchen is warm.

Standby hot buttered toast
Prompts teenagers'comments:
-"Everyone adores toast
First thing in the morning!"
-"Yes! But gas bottles empty out
Way too fast cooking toast!"

Two mornings ago
Ann wakes in her trailer
Goes to wash her face
In the bowl of water
She's brought in at bedtime
And it's frozen solid.

I'd often wondered
Why after cups of tea
And great chat with herself
And her team of daughters
There is always a race
For who gets to wash delph.