poetry – holy discomfort: Love letters from a reluctant Christian

“…every wish one lives for or doesn’t…”

A poem. …The body remembersevery wish one lives for or doesn’t, or even horror.- Yusef Komunyakaa(“The Body Remembers”) She wakes, her body rolling over waves that do not crest.The tide has carried her out, far beyond the limits of her mother’s permission— She fears she will not make it back.Regret lodges itself inside her chest,Continue reading ““…every wish one lives for or doesn’t…””

Promised

by Lynn Farmer A poem to Cuba Searching for haven in the stormy night,I may well perish as I make my way;But always to you, Fair Cuba, holding tight,Fast by the rudder, I await the day.–José Jacinto Milanés When I am far away from you,I can still imagine the crashing azure into whiteover the waitingContinue reading “Promised”

Entre nosotras el mar

A love letter to Cuba and La Vigia A poet and an artist walk into a bar. No, this is not the beginning of a joke. The setting is Cuba. The time is the late 1980s and early 1990s, during what Fidel Castro dubs “the Special Period in the Time of Peace.” The Iron CurtainContinue reading “Entre nosotras el mar”

Wondering and Wandering

December. Time of gathering darkness into which will be carried, bravely, the promise of light. Well, bravely—or not, as the case may be. The light will nevertheless return. I wonder as I wander It has to have been a woman who dreamed the words of the Appalachian folk carol into being. Walking outside under aContinue reading “Wondering and Wandering”