I inhale the expanding earth, seagulls slicing
through air, swells slapping jagged bluffs.
I am rain, falling through thirsty skies.
Years of living flow through my fingers.
My heart endures the voice of storm clouds,
tumbling limbs of dead ferns.
The earth absorbs me as I land,
assimilates me into her burrow,
filled with grains of sand, so intimate,
yet so detached in minute worlds.
It is a dense view against my liquid
perspective, my transparency, my free will.
This poem was nominated for the Pushcart Prize
and first appeared in California Quarterly, Volume 42 Number 4, 2016.
—
Rosemary Ybarra-Garcia is the author of four books of poetry, most recently Poems From My Painted Porch: Living in Accordance With Nature. Her poetry has been featured in Lighthouse Point: An Anthology of Santa Cruz Writers, New to North America: Writing by Immigrants, Their Children and Grandchildren, California Quarterly, Poetry Quarterly, Calyx, and River Poets Journal. An educator and a life-long poet, she holds graduate degrees in education, English, and Creative Writing from U.C.Davis and San Francisco State University. Prior to her retirement, Rosemary was employed by the California Community Colleges and U. C. Davis, where she held positions of lecturer, instructor, dean, and vice president. She dedicated her career to helping students achieve their educational goals and thus improve their lives.
