Welcome to Anda Totoreanu!

 

 

 

Recently Sandi Leibowitz introduced me to Anda Totoreanu who then sent me her poems.  Some of them are pandemic poems; some are not.  Let's start with an ekphrastic poem inspired by Hopper's "A Room in Brooklyn," the painting depicted above.

 

Reflections in the Afternoon

in response to Edward Hopper’s “A Room in Brooklyn”

My mother’s oak rocking chair

is where I sit

to watch the green light

touch my carpeted floors

there is a quiet warmth

to sitting here

in my own little corner

of this great room

she will always take up 

space here

- but I’d like to think

I have a little piece of it. 

written 4.16.20

 

 

 

Thank you

In my fifth floor New York walk-up

guest-room/office

I look out into the courtyard

see cherry blossoms against grey bricks,

finches chirping,

& the angry mother in the window

across from mine

yelling at her kids - maybe reminding them

to pick up their clothes

blues and pinks begin to paint the sky - a canvas 

above the grey, soot-covered apartments

I won’t leave my tower today -

instead looking down from above at the kingdom

left to the squirrels and the jesting birds

I close my eyes, bring my hands

to the heart of my forehead, 

bowing with gratitude - 

Thank you, thank you.

written 5.14.20

 

 

 

 

 

Hearth

Rattle my cage

let my bones

     pay for my sins

remind me how they click 

and creak

bend them

     into a sanctuary

for your restless soul

find the heat

     between them

make your home there.

written July 25, 2019

Winter Picnics by the Riverside

in response to “Untitled (Blue, Green and Brown)” by Mark Rothko

Winter picnics by the riverside

quiet & breathless

the birds have gone away

so the trees are singing instead

a wistful tune - an a capella quartet

in my backyard

How lucky am I to know such beauty!

I feel my legs sway along 

the soil crunching to the 

rhythm underneath me

my chocolate brown hair 

lifting towards

the tree branches

higher & higher

written 4.16.20

 

 

 

Escape Plan #521

The tomatoes in my grandpa’s garden in Romania

    are being neglected

When I wake up in the morning the first thing 

    I do is move my coffee table 

    so that I can take up space

There are constellations on my keypad

- Anda Totoreanu

I'll finish with a little music.  The other day I was listening to the pianist Duke Jordan, so here are some of his songs.  

 

Here is his version of "Everything Happens to Me": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jbpeqPEGF8&list=PL0ibTNG4dn-SXsWpVTfaxkid9wSs1eOzM 

 

Another song from his 1973 album Flight to Denmark is "Glad I Met Pat":  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZm0GAUKp1c&list=PL0ibTNG4dn-SXsWpVTfaxkid9wSs1eOzM&index=2 

 

I'll conclude with his version of "Here's That Rainy Day": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKzbLgR9Yl4&list=PL0ibTNG4dn-SXsWpVTfaxkid9wSs1eOzM&index=5