Gianna Improta
Summer 2025 | Poetry
OCD
I see me in the parrots.
Their hung beaks
like my nose.
Noon thunderstorm.
Close the blinds.
Pretend it’s night.
Mascara to paint the webs
on my eyelids. Mary Shelley,
Should we elect-
rocute all our men?
My sleepy dog falls off the bed.
She cries
& I break
like pills in water.
Because I had my back turned
for Mon-Tue-Wed-Thu-Fri-Sat-Sun
stars in tiny blue squares.
Gianna Improta is a poet and writer whose work explores the themes of identity and family while being both a participant and observer. She crafts poems that invites readers to be curious by her contradiction, critique, and compassion for the world. Gianna Improta’s poems have appeared in literary journals, including Foothill Journal and Main Street Rag Lit Magazine. She is a recent MFA graduate from NYU’s Creative Writing Program where she studied with Ocean Vuong, Catherine Barnett, Deborah Landau, & more. She is an English Language Arts educator for seventh grade & loves to teach her students poetry.