autumn poem – Short Prose

A summer with raspberry lips
born from the bones of the sea and the feathers of winds
on September 20th Pessoa left Lisbon
the autumn brought dead perfumes
and poisoned the crickets with black tongues of fumes

I linger in empty railroad stations
where trains never stop anymore
you, my love,
slept for years on wet cobblestones
the ring on your finger
and under your head
a Stradivarius courting suicidal moons

Delirious I am for I can hear voices
I can see snakes dance on polished parket
dead leaves grow from my arteries like sunrises from seas
I lick from my lips the last pieces of corn
remember, my love, I am the one
who knows where nightingales are born.

Please do not forget that Literary Revelations will publish in December a fabulous book called Greenlandos by Virginia Witch. Please read more here and stay tuned for more news.

Gabriela Marie Milton
2022 Pushcart Prize Nominee
Publisher, Editor, Award Winning & #1 Amazon Bestselling Author
Books:

Hidden in Childhood: A Poetry Anthology (ed.), Literary Revelations, 2023
Wounds I Healed: The Poetry of Strong Women (ed.), Experiments in Fiction, 2022.
Woman: Splendor and Sorrow :I Love Poems and Poetic Prose, Vita Brevis Press, 2021.
Passions: Love Poems and Other Writings, Vita Brevis Press, 2020

Thank you to Flavio Almerighi for the beautiful Italian translation of my poem The Ides of October.
Grazie di core, Flavio.

I paid for all the happiness that was bestowed upon us by the Ides of October.
I used to feel the presence of the child all around me.
A woman said I should pick a piece of slough cast by a snake and wear it against my skin.
I did it.
Flushed as a young peach every sunset became a resurrection.
Roses wrapped around my waist and later in June the child was born.

A new October sets our pictures on the Spanish chest.
Emotions animate your cheeks.
Every night above the trees the moon nurses the stars.
When I see cocoons of the larvae, I think silk as soft as the hair of the child.
When I say I love you, I think death as the harbinger of birth.
Your lips tremble and your voice flattens.
I know you love me.
With nude fingers the Ides of October betroth us again.

[Ides as the 15th day in March, May, July, and October according to the Roman calendar]

Italian Version

Ho pagato per tutta la felicità che ci è stata concessa dalle Idi di ottobre.
Sentivo la presenza del bambino tutto intorno a me.
Una donna ha detto che avrei dovuto scegliere un pezzo di melma lanciato da un serpente e indossarlo sulla pelle.
L’ho fatto.
Arrossata come una giovane pesca, ogni tramonto diventava una risurrezione.
Le rose si avvolsero intorno alla mia vita e più tardi a giugno nacque il bambino.

Un nuovo ottobre pone le nostre foto sul petto spagnolo.
Le emozioni animano le tue guance.
Ogni notte sopra gli alberi la luna nutre le stelle.
Quando vedo i bozzoli delle larve, penso che la seta sia morbida come i capelli del bambino.
Quando dico che ti amo, penso che la morte sia il presagio della nascita.
Le tue labbra tremano e la tua voce si appiattisce.
Io so che mi ami.
Con le dita nude le Idi di ottobre ci fidanzano di nuovo.

[Idi come il 15 ° giorno di marzo, maggio, luglio e ottobre secondo il calendario romano]

My poetry collection Passions: Love Poems and Other Writings is available on Amazon here .
Passions featured in San Francisco Book Review
Passions featured in Manhattan Book Review.

Thank you!
Love.
Gabriela

@Gabriela Marie Milton