By Adriana B. Rojas, PhD

In winter

Nature likes to hide herself

Olive tans

peel down the drain

Terracotta chips

pink

Milky cheese

surfaces

Snowcapped breasts

of an Inca Princess

Bronze thighs shatter

into the marble

of a Greek Goddess

Green veins

protrude

like rivers

on a map

*

A Cortes or Pizarro

settled

upon this coast

burning

In the cocoa

Woman’s flesh

they sowed

white seeds

that flourish

in the selva [1]

Populating

like maleza [2]

Propelled

to the mountains

Cold winds

   rip

the flower’s roots

Frozen leaves

crystallize

Waiting for the

equator’s thaw

So this flower can

Bloom

Red and Olive

            *

Before it

reconciles

with its ground

this flower

is transplanted

from tierra

to tierra [3]

A crop-duster

sprays

in northern farmland

Seagulls flock

to city ports

dropping

peculiar seeds

New soil

penetrates

shallow roots

The seedling

germinates

trembling

as it 

absorbs

sorrows, histories

that belong to

other growth

Harshest is the

frost

instilling trepidation

exhausting

the vibrant self

quiescent

EL ALMA [4]

relinquishes

its reddish hue

tarrying

in complacency

            *

In summer

Nature reveals her self

Dying embers

struggle to 

overcome

In the soil

standing brava [5]

amidst

the mundane

natives

Grappling to grow

as it would have

in the South

[1] jungle

[2] weeds

[3] land

[4] the soul

[5] angry, brave