Time Is Running Slow Again
POETRY
by Ryan Di Francesco
I had a dream
of my mother.
I visited her
after she died.
She told me
I was two hours late.
Then sat down
at the kitchen table
and ate an apple.
She got up,
walked over to me
in the doorway
and began
to wash the cuts
on my arms
with a wet cloth.
I saw a page turn.
Words fell.
In the Morning
POETRY
by Ryan Di Francesco
She heard a bird outside our window
then told me
spring is almost here
and asked me if I think the robin
will come back again.
I said, yes.
But only if we finally take down last year’s nest.
She said she will take it down today.
I figured I’d write a poem about this.
But I’m not sure where to begin.
It’s Simple
POETRY
by Ryan Di Francesco
My mother’s banana bread
with instant coffee.
Flowers from the market.
Van Gogh’s letters
and a book of poetry
to read about Duras.
There isn’t much more than that.
It’s as peaceful
as the sound
of tires gripping
a wet street after the rain.
Ryan Di Francesco is a Canadian writer, teacher, and editor based in St. Catharines, Ontario. His journalistic work has appeared in The Toronto Star, and his poetry and fiction have been published or are forthcoming in Acta Victoriana, Pacific Review, Soliloquies Anthology, Pinhole Poetry, and elsewhere. Di Francesco’s most recent chapbooks are Mirage of Burning Things, which was published by Parlyaree Press in 2026, and Skeleton Mine Disaster, published by Bottlecap Press in 2025. His Jack Spicer-inspired collection Along Tongues Full of Time is forthcoming from Ethel Zine & Micro Press, and his first full-length poetry collection, Let the Dogs Have It, is forthcoming from Parlyaree Press. In 2025, one of his poems was shortlisted for the Rhonda Gail Williford Poetry Prize. Di Francesco is the editor-in-chief of Shadow and Sax, an independent literary and arts press.
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