Melinda Coppola

twenty four may | from the inside out

Melinda Coppola

twenty four may | from the inside out

Eloquence as Legacy

My mother Victoria took prolific notes.  Her handwriting was an elegant cursive, quite different from my chicken scratch (that even I have difficulty deciphering sometimes).  She penned lovely postcards during her travels.  Clever greeting cards with her thoughtfully  composed messages  and a favorite quote or two enriched birthdays, anniversaries, and milestones of all sorts.  She […]

Mutha

I’m so pleased to share two poems that were published today in Mutha Magazine. These two are part of  the full-length poetry book I’ve been working on for years.  I finally finished the manuscript  in January, and sent it out to a number of  publishers. Now it’s a waiting game!  You can read the magazine […]

Mother

Today I honor the universal quality of benevolent mothering.  Happy Mother’s Day to all the women who exemplify mama energy, whether they have their own children or not.  You….we…make the world go ’round!   Mother You wake in the middle of the night. This is not new. I move dreamlike to your bed, empty my […]

More Autism Awareness

For many folks on the autism spectrum, medical encounters are fraught with anxiety and fear. Sensory issues, limited ability to understand procedures and express themselves, the speed at which things are expected to proceed, traumatic memories of previous encounters—all can combine to create some serious daytime nightmares. Bink and I have decades of experiences across […]

These Monikered Months

A  month of daffodils is upon us.  Yay, spring!!  April has been branded both Autism Awareness Month and National Poetry Month.  Here you go, then, a post that covers both.  I’ve shared this poem before, but it feels annually relevant.  As D, a sister mom of a young woman with autism says, ” We are […]

Farther

I’m so pleased that my poem, “Farther”, which I share with you below, was just published in the Spring 2024 issue of Metonym Literary Journal. Metonym is a print journal, available for sale through their site at https://metonym-journal.com/ Poetry is art. While not everything written in all poems actually happened the way it reads, it’s […]

Anxiety, the unwelcome house guest (who never seems to leave).

  Agita Sometimes I think there four of us making a life inside this sweet gray house. Add the felines, we make a quirky octad. There is the me who is I poet, I mom, I carer for everything and everyone who moves within this circle–– the him and her, the furniture which claims no […]

A Tale of Two Motorists

Poem for the Pissed-Off Driver   I have a third eye that sees beyond your scowl, man-behind -the-wheel who couldn’t bear to wait when I slowed to turn right and so zoomed past, horn blaring, finding just enough time to turn and glare at me, mouth a “F*** you” before roaring off to his Clearly […]

Pippi

  For the most part, my childhood nourished my creativity and sense of wonder. I feel so fortunate to have come up in a time before cell phones and social media. My knowledge of screens was limited to our old black and white TV set and the occasional movie outing. Children’s literature was a treasured […]

Rhyming to Death

I started writing poetry when I was 8 or 9. My first notebooks were full of rhyme, crude as it may have been. Over the years my writing morphed into rambling narrative free verse. From time to time I enjoy a quick dip back into the rhythmic river of rhyme. It feels playful to me […]