La Pausa
La Pausa creeps in
sweat descending from her crown
La Reina needs ice
Stat!
Multitasking like a Mother
Tilt-a-Whirl
her brain shouting
Pick one thing!
She reaches for turmeric
black pepper
solace in a tea that tastes like dirt
her belly pronounces its arrival
luscious
pliable
stretch marks like race tracks
years on the pleasing path
her new favorite word:
NO
It rolls around her mouth
A marble of delight
She’s eliminated ‘sorry’
‘thank you’
except for the worthy
Her liberation is visible
like a flag decolonized
repossessed
her ancestor’s dream
she lifts her head softly
puts down her pen
ambles to mother oak
feels the grass on the pads of her feet
asks permission to plug in
roots welcome repose
leans into bark
succulent soil
she finds home in the hollow
her sigh a respite song
closed eyes
signal victory and vitamins
willing the wisdom
into the space between
The Poem is You for Amheric
The Poem came whistling with the criss cross clouds over Yosemite
Is that Sasquatch or did your running buddy forget to shave?
Crescent moon, mega constellation
and Father George on the mothership
You find joy in drums
and the majesty of the Uke among the trees
Hawkman
Star Trek
Watermelon Wine Coolers
No one knows the secrets of telecoffee
and teleportation like you do
SF, Reno, Charlotte
Parades power the click and shutter
doc-u-ment the joy
I give thanks for the DC stumble into Dark Horse
the poetry slip by slip
bountiful bongos
and the promise of Polly
it’s a new month [almost]
time to shed the soulskin
and bring on the circus peanuts
celebrate the day the stars met
It’s his turn now!
they sang in unison
and for that we are blessed
beyond the highest stack of pancakes
the bottomless mug of java
Raise your cup now
the fifty and the magical eight
call us to REJOICE!
Rebecca Villarreal is the author of The Amazing Adventures of Selma Calderón, A Globetrotting Magical Mystery of Courage, Food & Friendship (Mama Chelo Press, 2015). She donates 5% of net profits to Teaching for Change. Based in California, Rebecca is a big believer in the magic of everyday life with a passion for peace, travel, education and food. For 30 years, her poems, essays and stories have been published in literary outlets such as The Paterson Review, Gargoyle and the anthologies Full Moon on K Street: Poems About Washington, DC and Poets Against the War. Performing on television, radio and stage, she’s been featured in the Huffington Post, The Washington Post and The Chicago Tribune. She’s currently at work on her second novel.