Chamomile by Joey Nicoletti

My mother told me:
five years after World War Two,
the chamomile seeds
that German soldiers spat out
into the seared ground
of her family’s homestead
grew into bushes even
thicker than my Nonno Giovanni’s forearms,
glistening in the sweat of anticipation
as they boarded the S.S. Colombo,
their ship, the silver voices of church bells
shrouding Genoa in mist.
“We will grow like chamomile
in America, my sweet angel,”
Giovanni said. “We will grow.”



Joey Nicoletti's most recent books are Extinction Wednesday: A Memoir (Bordighera Press, 2024) and Breakaway (Broadstone Books, 2023). He is the Reviews Editor of VIA: Voices in Italian Americana and teaches in the College Writing Program at SUNY Buffalo State University.