Woodpecker

As a coal-coloured nib transcribes
hunger into bark, tail presses
into tree, bridging bones
to trunk, stabilizing plumage.

Behind the timber frame, spellbound
tongues orient skittery brains
through visionary tale-telling,
propelling ink-slopped beaks

into pages of pulverised wood,
chiseling through paper lines—
cracking open the famine
that feathers into beats of flight.

Antonia Facciponte

Antonia Facciponte is an author in Toronto. She received her master’s degree in English Literature and Creative Writing at the University of Toronto. Her first collection of poetry, titled To Make a Bridge, was published by Black Moss Press in 2021, and her poem “The House” was the winner of Accenti’s poetry contest in 2022. Antonia’s writing can be found in various literary magazines, including Exile: The Literary Quarterly, The Hart House Review, and The Northern Appeal.

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