Melissa Andrés
Poet
About
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.
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
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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
Follow me:
