Holiday Noel Campanella
In Defense of Fear
Two Weeks After
Before you died, I only read about death,
not grief. About what was coming for you,
not me. I hadn't considered an after
until a few days before the obvious,
when you no longer spoke, the house quiet.
I had been focused on keeping us all
laughing, breathing, upright. Preventing a fall.
For weeks I climbed the steps behind you,
descended them in front of you, and now
I walk them again at my regular pace, alone.
I envy those who still feel fear. They live
in the before.
Bio
Holiday Noel Campanella is a multi-disciplinary writer and artist from South Philadelphia. Her work has been published in lit mags and journals, (Gigantic Sequins, Philadelphia Stories, San Pedro River Review, Meow Meow Pow Pow, Pink Disco) exhibited and sold nationally, (The Smithsonian Museum, Anthropologie, The Clay Studio) and collected in public and private collections (The Free Library of Philadelphia, Vanderbilt Libraries Special Collections). She has a BFA from the University of Pennsylvania and The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in painting and creative writing.