Aguadilla
Leave a commentJune 30, 2023 by The Citron Review
by Erica Vital-Lazare
When you find me in the desert
peel back the greening leaf
the pulp
sleeping in the marrow
the grit between my teeth
pick me clean
tell me where the flowers lay braided
in the winds
the palominos the grandmother remembers
sailing over the mesa
thunder of hooves sweet as rain
sing me into being
craft the inset and sacred place at the back of my knees
raise your gourd to drink from it
take me slowly by the hem of my dress
and leave the heat of me to shimmer
over the springs
the depth of the water willing itself above ground
to breathe
Erica Vital-Lazare is a professor of Creative Writing at the College of Southern Nevada and has received grants and awards from the Zora Neale Hurston Foundation, the Hilliard Endowment, and the Nevada Arts Council. Her poetry and fiction appears in Sojourner, Callaloo II, and the anthologies A River Underground, Sandstone and Silver and Legs of Tumbleweeds, Wings of Lace. Vital-Lazare is the co-host of Black Mountain Radio and editor of the series Of the Diaspora with McSweeney’s Press, as well as the co-founder of the non-profit The Obodo Collective.
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