Mrs. White,
Have you touched all the palms in Hempstead?
And do they reap in gold
or discontent?

How many righteous men
have spread
their heart lines
under your lamp light
where wrinkles turn to moonlit trees

in the town where all animals
are stone
lawn ornaments
for hardwood homes.

Does superstition thrive
where sins so easily unfold?

Mrs. White,
If I brought you my palm,
would it tell of gold on the horizon,
or is each line horridly bent?

Gianna Sannipoli has studied at Texas State University and the University of Bologna. Her work has been published in Gold Dust Magazine, One Sentence Poems, and is forthcoming in Edify Fiction.