3 Poems by Nina Padolf

Bluebird Bus

When you are too young to comprehend why
the tall older boy carries a porn magazine
on the Bluebird Bus
to his seat
exposes raw pictures
instead of books.

His body stinks
as he swoops your nine-year-old self
to the long back seat
forces you flat on your back
the engine rumbles while you sink
into dark blue vinyl 
he pushes his hands over your mouth
he grinds on top of you

between gags
you float 
until the bus driver finally notices something
in his mirror 
he walks sideways down the aisle
his blubber rocks the bus 
as he heads towards you.

The boy leaps from your body
and heads out of the door
he’s gone in a flash,
but you are still floating
gathering feathers.

Water Songs

River songs low pitched baritone
washed me back to a memory
of my father’s voice, commanded
					attention.

Strict and imperious
his presence could never be
					ignored.

The weight of his anger		would roll inside,

	belly-deep.
My sister and I soon learned
not to stir up
his					tsunami temper.

When he left for good,
I stood looking
out the window
wondering if
the river would overflow		and drown.

My continued connection 
to water streams
me to swim
the way we did in the blue bath,
imagining Jacques Cousteau
would summon us
to dive with him.
His voice,
like the creatures he discovered—
those undulating whale whistles
echoing their arrival.
This is when I fell in love with
the deep blue sea and the man
who opened
	my	heart.

Steam

It pulls you in 
holds you close 
shuffles things around
puzzled, you can’t seem to

find your balance 
off-kilter feet don’t land
as firmly on the ground
they unravel into 
vulnerability 
shifts the body

fate plays games 
scattered on uneven 
sidewalks cracked 
like skin once smooth.

The crow balanced
on city wire
stops to watch the
late day violet-blue sky
join with tangerine haze

beckons you to 
persevere in patience
bask in sunshine 
while it warms those
hidden holes
so cold
that steam rises.

---

Nina Padolf’s first chapbook, Uprooted (Kelsay Books, July 2021); explores real life traumatic events and how to recover. She co-edited: Nasty Women and Bad Hombres Poetry Anthology, (Lascaux Editions, 2017); Is It Hot In Here Or Is it Just Me?: Women Over Forty Write on Aging, (Social Justice Anthologies, Amazon, 2019). Her poetry has been featured in many journals and anthologies. She has been instructing college level writing courses for over 15 years and resides in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.