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Melissa Andrés

 Poet

About

Photo Melissa Andres2.jpg
New College Campus/Ringling Museum

Melissa Andrés, originally from Holguin, Cuba, arrived in the

United States at the age of six. She grew up in Florida (Miami and Sarasota), but has lived in New York, Texas, and Europe. She has worked as an educator and taught English as a second language. She holds a BA in International Studies from the University of South Florida and an MFA in Creative Writing from Sarah Lawrence College. 

Her work has appeared in the Laurel Review, Rattle Magazine, Ligeia Magazine, The San Antonio Review, Inkwell Journal,  Burningword Literary Journal, West Trade Review, and elsewhere. 

About
Poetry

My Mother's Daybed

My mother stirred a kettle

of yucca and yams

over a low fire,

smoke rising from embers,

hints of cedar cloaking the air.

I sat on the porch and swung my legs.

My curiosity provoked

my mother's anger when I dangled

my hair over the ashes

to watch them burn.

My brother, his head stuck

between two branches,

was choking. My father,

glancing out the window,

saw him between strokes of his razor.

He saved my brother, carried

him over the mudflat

where we waited. Mounds of clay

cluttered the terrace.

A herd of cattle dotted the field.

My gaze landed 

on an ant

carrying a grain of sugar

across the boots

my father left behind.

That night, outside

on my mother's daybed, a firefly

crawled into my ear

and the image of my brother's head

hovered near the rail. 

          Published in the Laurel Review

          Vol 51.1

Links to poetry:

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The Poisoned Horse

An egret perched on a cow

     watched my uncle ride his horse

          in a gallop as he held the reins

with one hand and covered

     his glass eye with the other. 

The hooves left marks on our land,

     imprints of hardened keratin

          with fresh notes of joy in abundance, 

...

Ligeia Magazine, Fall of 2020

Links to poetry:

For any media inquiries or bookings, please contact Melissa Andrés:

Contact

Thanks for submitting!

Follow me:  

  • Instagram
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