When in Rome I did

as Americans do

jolted to a halt

in front of a luxury shop.

Lightning zigzagged gold

from the green suede purse

straight to my heart.

Pulled by unknown forces

I opened the door,

nearly swooned in the cloud

of rich leather scent.

Nearly fainted again

at the total on my credit card.

Tossed my nylon travel bag

into the shop's embossed sack,

toured Italy wearing that vibrant green.

Only when I got home

did I realize my dream bag

clashed

with every item in my closet.

Biography

Patricia Wellingham-Jones, a former psychology researcher and writer/editor, is a two-time Pushcart Prize nominee. She has work published in numerous anthologies, journals, and internet magazines including The Tule Review, the Acorn, Poetry Depth Quarterly, Phoebe, Visions International, Manzanita Quarterly, Midwest Poetry Review, Midnight Mind, Nanny Fanny, mélange journal, Thunder Sandwich. She edited River Voices: Poets of Butte, Shasta, Tehama and Trinity Counties, California and Labyrinth: Poems & Prose. She is author of Don't Turn Away: Poems About Breast Cancer; Apple Blossoms at Eye Level; and Welcome, Babies. A Gathering Glance, one of the Lummox Press Little Red Book series, is due out in June, 2003. She was named Featured Writer for March/April 2002 at www.OutStretch.net.

Visit Patricia Wellingham-Jones website at http://www.snowcrest.net/pamelaj/wellinghamjones/home.htm.