Miguel #short prose #flash fiction

I can still hear that deep voice of his and see his striking profile against the walls of the Chartres Cathedral: tormented French Gothic autumn; agonizing blue eyes; gelid rain lingering on stained glass and trickling on my face like liquid wax at the feet of saints.

“Clara, Miguel needs to stop. He needs to give up. Make him do it or I will.”

Nobody could make Miguel give up. The verb “to give up” was not part of Miguel’s vocabulary.

Miguel was not General Santa Anna who lost the Battle of San Jacinto. At heart Miguel was Cortés. Cortés who conquered an empire. Cortés who enrolled God to help him. Cortés who destroyed and rebuilt.

Jacques had no chance.

Now, when I look back, alone in the mist of those haunting memories, my eyes lids heavy, my body weak, my lips cracked by fever, Angelo was right when he said:

“Wait, Clara, wait, you don’t know Jacques yet.”

In fact, none of us knew Jacques. Not even Angelo.

How ironic.

Excerpt from the manuscript Glass Lovers

@short-prose-fiction (Gabriela M)

image: Kees Zwanenburg; Shutterstock; [link]

Will you vote for me? I was nominated Author of the Year and one of my poems is in the run for Publication of the Year at Spillwords Press (NYC)

My Dear Readers,

I was nominated Author of the Year at Spillwords Press. At the same time my poem “the breath of love and death” was nominated for Publication of the Year (Poetic). I am honored by those nominations.

Will you vote for me? If yes, please vote Gabriela M in the link below first two rubrics: Author of the Year and Publication of the Year (poetic).

I am in the third position under Author of the Year.

My poem “the breath of love and death” is the ninth position.

You do not need to have a Spillwords account to vote though it is easy to open one. You can vote with your Twitter or your FB account.

Voting will be officially held from January 26th – January 30th.

Thank you for your vote and congratulations to all nominees.

Vote

@short-prose-fiction (Gabriela M)

the biblical sense of to know
born in a summer that never existed
nailed to the cross of your poems
I’m losing my mind inside the blue night
I reach you in dreams you do not understand
It hurts when I’m there
It hurts when I’m not
I ask for the help gravediggers can grant
I wrote I love you on a note that I locked
It wasn’t a snake, it was an iguana
the night the tango nuevo played its guitar
on fifteen decades you counted your prayers
my fingers were naked
my fingers were gloved

@Gabriela Marie Milton

image: agsandrew; Shutterstock; [link]

deification of the virgin nymph
within my palms
the flesh of violet sunsets flips like fish on land
my eyes, inheritors of light
singular sinkholes punctuating a low sky
your love…
continue reading with WP here
or
on Vita Brevis Press here.

@Gabriela Marie Milton

image: Everett – Art; Shutterstock; [link]

Two of my poems included in “Pain & Renewal: A Poetry Anthology” published by Vita Brevis Press #poetry #anthology

My Dear Readers,

Vita Brevis just published Pain & Renewal: A Poetry Anthology. I have two poems included: The Dark Flag of Pain and Autumn Healing.

“Pain & Renewal features a collection of incredible voices — from Pulitzer and Pushcart prize winners to brand new poets, it’s filled with moving poetry about the highs and lows of the human experience.”

You can get the digital version here.

And you can get the print version here.

Here is a snippet from my poem Autumn Healing:

..this autumn stretches purple shadows
over unending fields of sweet corn and hurt souls
it brings from the depth the lacustrine goddess
who heals all wounds with yesterday’s mirth…

@Gabriela Marie Milton

In Spain, the dead are more alive than the dead of any other country in the world.
Federico García Lorca

open your veins Andalusia
let him drink from your lynx blood
inject the rhythms of the flamenco
under the coldness of his eyes
tattoo his flesh with tiles of azurite
pour the sounds of castanets
into his arms
my fingers swirl
the flesh of ripened olives
covers the old shroud
the flow of blood from the white shirt
has stopped
I hear his voice
there is one cross
and you’re my only love
my body arches
oils flame in my hair
a Moorish verse falls from a wall
covering my cries

Andalusia
I kneel among your cacti fed by salt
your wounded lashes
resurrected him
for yet
another night

@Gabriela Marie Milton

image: Fernando Cortes; Shutterstock; [link]

Simplicity #short prose #flash fiction

All I want is a sunset, three roses, and you.

@Gabriela Marie Milton

Thank you to Brian Geiger, the editor of Vita Brevis Poetry Magazine, for publishing my piece “I’ll Return.”
(this poem was initially posted on this blog under another name)

I open my veins in warm waters
each time when you like what I write
the sound of the sands in the darkness
the eyes of the desert are dried
the midnight windows are opened
I jump like a lynx from a cage
dressed in cold winds and in black
barefoot…
continue reading with WP here
or
on Vita Brevis Press here

@Gabriela Marie Milton