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Ryan Di Francesco
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Too Young to Hear
Sitting on my
couch
listening to
church bells
toll in my
neighbourhood
while I finish
eating
two hard-boiled
eggs
half
an avocado
pineapple
strawberries
on a Sunday
morning
with its cool sleet
slapping the city
imagining
steam
rising from
espresso machines
in James Street
cafés
serving
the well-groomed
bending necks
raising cups
to lips
blowing
on the surface
laughing
and talking
where just around
the corner
a child
was stabbed
to death
at a school
parking lot
I pass
every day
walking
my dog
in a silence
I was once
too young
to appreciate
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Ryan Di Francesco is a Canadian writer and teacher with a BA in English Literature. He’s the Editor-in-Chief of Shadow and Sax, an emerging literary magazine, where his poetry and short fiction have appeared. His poems have been published or are forthcoming in Ink In Thirds, Bitter Melon Review, SHINE, SQUID Magazine, Azarão lit journal, The Orange Rose, The Amphibian Literary & Art Journal, and On the Dole. His nonfiction has appeared in The Toronto Star, The Hardball Times, and elsewhere. He also co-wrote the indie film Streets of Wonderland.