Of Wounds By Gabriela Marie Milton #poem #poetic prose #short prose

I cannot tell which of the wounds I acquired hurts the most. I gather all of them in a large wicker basket. Every summer morning I sort them out. I re-live each of them.

I see how the Lie walks hand in hand with the Betrayal, and how the Betrayal indulges herself in the sweetest of wine. Oh, that irresistible taste of black grapes that melts in her mouth. It almost makes her attractive.

The Envy wears red lipstick and high heels. She dances naked on a wooden table. At every turn, she spreads poisonous confetti in the air, and lowers her eyes. I try to decipher the meaning of her gestures. I cannot.

The Greed, with her childbearing hips, indulges herself with poor souls who live at the margins of the city. The children are hungry, and the mother long exhausted. The beds are cold. The moonlight enters the room through broken windows.

I feel the pulse in my temples. Exhausted I go over the meaning of love and sacrifice. I try to restore them to the right place.

Love is the consummation of all acts leading to the warm meal one hands to an old man during winters. It is the sum of all unknowns. It is the finger that draws stars in the darkest of skies.

Sacrifice? You tell me.

Sightly revised version of the original published in Women: Splendor and Sorrow :I Love Poems and Poetic Prose

Gabriela Marie Milton
#1 Amazon Bestselling Author
Books:
Woman: Splendor and Sorrow :I Love Poems and Poetic Prose
Passions: Love Poems and Other Writings

Dear Readers,

As of this writing Wounds I Healed: The Poetry of Strong Women is still running #1 on Amazon New Releases [poetry anthologies]. I cannot tell you how humbled and delighted I am. The poetry in this volume is fabulous. Your voices deserve to be heard.

I will be interviewed by New York Glamour Magazine about our book. I will post the link when the interview is published.

Below is my one of my readings from Wounds I Healed: The Poetry of Strong Women: Beginnings, by Jo Lynn Juneau. I hope you enjoy it. I hope it inspires you to start reading your own poems.

video by Gabriela Marie Milton

Beginnings
by Jo Lynn Juneau

Cast out of Paradise, Eden’s perpetual exiles
the surreptitious serpent, now lies crushed under our feet
God took a lesser part of Man, and created from it the strength of humanity
we bear the world in our wombs, and bear its weight on our shoulders
we suffer the pain of giving life, so we suffer death differently
we are harbingers of antiquity and the future
we are Goddess
we are Mother
we are One

UPDATE:

Since June 17 Wounds I Healed: The Poetry of Strong Women has been a #1 Amazon bestseller. As I write this update it still is. Thank you to everyone who helped us. We would not be #1 without you.

Check our publisher Experiments in Fiction‘s post here to see a picture of our book in a bookstore in UK. It is exciting. The book is fantastic. It deserves to be read. It deserves to be in bookstores.

Have a lovely day and thank you for spreading the word about our anthology.

Gabriela Marie Milton
#1 Amazon Bestselling Author
Books:
Woman: Splendor and Sorrow :I Love Poems and Poetic Prose
Passions: Love Poems and Other Writings

Wounds I Healed: The Poetry of Strong Women is out!

To the readers: A stunning poetry anthology. From its gorgeous pages, pain driven away by healing. Souls who endured, fought, and won. Some of them still waiting to win. Empowerment. We all need it. The life of women. We all need to read it.

To the authors: It was an honor and a pleasure to edit and curate this anthology. Your poetry showed me the way to your souls. For that I will be forever grateful. In my darkest moments, I will think about how each and one of you fought. Your fight became my candle to a better tomorrow. I’ll take my broken heart and mend it because you showed me how.

To the entire team who worked on this anthology: Ingrid Wilson of Experiments in Fiction, thank you for working on this book and for publishing it. Nick Reeves, gratitude for the gorgeous cover art, and editing expertise. It was an honor and a pleasure to work with both of you.

Yesterday, Wounds I Healed: The Poetry of Strong Women was running #4 in Amazon Hot New Releases [category: anthology].

Please spread the word. Help us to get these talented and brave authors to #1. They deserve it. You will not regret reading their words.

Amazon description:

Award-winning authors, Pushcart nominees, emerging poets, voices of women and men, come to the fore in this stunning, powerful, and unique anthology. These poems testify both to the challenges that women face in our society, and to their power to overcome them. A memorable collection of over 200 poems by more than 100 authors, this anthology is a must-have for anyone. We all can benefit from the poetry of survival, and of healing. We all can benefit from the experiences so beautifully evoked in this book. We can all come together to emerge triumphant from pain.

Do not forget the launching party is June 18, 3pm London time and it will be live-steamed on YouTube.

Have a glorious day everyone.

Gabriela Marie Milton
#1 Amazon Bestselling Author
Books:
Woman: Splendor and Sorrow :I Love Poems and Poetic Prose
Passions: Love Poems and Other Writings

Wounds I Healed: The Poetry of Strong Women scheduled to be released on June 18, 2022

Dear Readers,

I am delighted to announce that Wounds I Healed: The Poetry of Strong Women is scheduled to be released on June 18, 2022.

It has been an honor and a pleasure to edit and curate this anthology. Every day I hear women speaking about the adversities they face. Every day I see most of them triumphing. To read the unbelievable poetry of women and men who understand how many obstacles need to be overcome in a society that is still patriarchal brought me to tears. Thank you for submitting your incredible poetry to this anthology. Thank you for opening your hearts.

Below is the description of the anthology as it will appear on Amazon.

Award-winning authors, Pushcart nominees, emerging poets, voices of women and men, come to the fore in this stunning, powerful, and unique anthology. Their poems testify to the challenges that women face in our society, and to their power to overcome them. A memorable collection of over 200 poems by more than 100 authors, this anthology is a must-have for anyone. We all can benefit from the poetry of survival, and of healing. We all can benefit from the experiences so beautifully evoked in this book. We can all come together to emerge triumphant from pain.

This anthology has been a team effort. Many thanks to Ingrid Wilson at Experiments in Fiction for agreeing to publish this book. Ingrid, you work relentlessly and you are a wonderful poet. Many thanks to Nick Reeves for his wonderful art and for his proofreading expertise. My deepest gratitude to everyone who spread the word about this anthology. Thank you to those of you who joined our Twitter Space.

On June 18, the day of the release, we will have a launch party via Zoom. Contributors are invited to read their poems. An email with more info will go out soon.

The event will be live-streamed via social media, so anyone will have a chance to hear poems from the anthology read by the poets themselves. For further updates check my blog, Ingrid’s, and the following social media accounts:

Twitter:
@shortprose1 (Gabriela Marie Milton)
@Experimentsinfc (Ingrid Wilson)

Instagram:
@experimentsinfiction (Ingrid Wilson)
@gabriela_marie_milton

Have a glorious rest of the week.

Gabriela Marie Milton
#1 Amazon Bestselling Author
Books:
Woman: Splendor and Sorrow :I Love Poems and Poetic Prose
Passions: Love Poems and Other Writings

Knowing – poem/poetic prose by Gabriela Marie Milton

Around me “all-knowing” people. Happy because they think they know. Yet what brings them happiness is what they do not know. Ignorance repeats itself with the precision with which Big Ben tells the time.

These days the child has an imaginary friend called Li Boo. One night an avocado seed crawled on the north wall of the mansion, reached the roof, and bloomed to the sound of a fanfare that happened to go by. Li Boo came out of the bloom, wrapped in sea silk, blueberry eyes, strawberry lips gasping for moonlight.

Back in our bedroom I throw at you stars dressed in chiffon skirts. Roads toward tomorrow break the walls. The air smells mastic, cyclamen, and rockroses: the smell of the Corsican maquis; the essence of Corsica. Sirens. Homer’s Odyssey. Occupations. Feuds. Purification of Sunday’s water.

Another fanfare goes by. A lizard shakes her head pointing toward the West. Your raspy voice turns toward the South. It flickers in pine trees. It slithers in the white sand. It goes beyond the taste of the daily bread.

Li Boo, sweet tears on his cheek, salt and rose petals in his boots, disappears into my consciousness.

I know nothing. Another claim to fame. Did you smile, my love?

An Update on Wounds I Healed: The Poetry of Strong Women

Ingrid just received the paperback proof of Wounds I Healed. I am truly thrilled. Please read more here.

Thank you to everyone who plans to join me and Ingrid on Twitter Space on June 4, at 9 am CT – 10 am ET (USA) for a lively discussion and more updates on our anthology Wounds I Healed: The Poetry of Strong Women. By saving and clicking on the link below you can listen to the discussion even if you do not have a Twitter account. Please share the link with those you think may be interested. I can’t wait to talk to those of you who can attend.

Twitter Space Link

https://twitter.com/i/spaces/1lDxLLreevkxm

Gabriela Marie Milton
#1 Amazon Bestselling Author
Books:
Woman: Splendor and Sorrow :I Love Poems and Poetic Prose
Passions: Love Poems and Other Writings

A Twitter Poem by Gabriela Marie Milton

I am the wounded healer who does not heal anymore. He who touches me dies.
Go to the end of this world & wait for me. Between two centuries, between two sufferings, I’ll find you & then I’ll heal you.

Mon amour je te chercherai
toujours#Stand

#vss365 #WritingCommunity #poem pic.twitter.com/zQglWwf2TQ
— Gabriela Marie Milton (@shortprose1) April 10, 2022

Updates

Thank you to everyone who submitted to the anthology: Wounds I Healed: The Poetry of Strong Women. I am privileged to read your work. Thank you for letting me inside your soul. There is no higher honor for me.
In three days the submission period closes. If you still want to submit you can read the guidelines for submission HERE.
Wounds I Healed: The Poetry of Strong Women will be published by Experiments in Fiction, a publishing house owned by the wonderful poet Ingrid Wilson. The gorgeous art on the cover is by Nick Reeves.

For more poetry follow me on Twitter Here.
Happy Easter to those of you who celebrate on Sunday. To those of you who do not a hundred years of love.

Gabriela Marie Milton
#1 Amazon Bestseller Author
Books:
Woman: Splendor and Sorrow :I Love Poems and Poetic Prose
Passions: Love Poems and Other Writings

Cover Design/ArtWork @2022 Experiments in Fiction/ Nick Reeves

Dear All,

Thank you for your submissions to the anthology Wounds I Healed: The Poetry of Strong Women. I am privileged and honored to be your editor. Your poems and your talent brought me to tears.

Thank you to our publisher Ingrid Wilson, and to Nick Reeves for the beautiful cover book. I am thrilled to work with Ingrid on this anthology.

Submissions are open until April 15. You can read the submissions guidelines here and find more info here.

You will receive a notification of acceptance or rejection in the beginning of May.

Thank you again for your submissions.

Have a fabulous weekend everyone.

Gabriela Marie Milton
#1 Amazon Bestseller Author
Books:
Woman: Splendor and Sorrow :I Love Poems and Poetic Prose
Passions: Love Poems and Other Writings

A Poem from Passions: Love Poems and Other Writings

Seduction
by Gabriela Marie Milton

the rhythm of castanets awakens the moon
on opal rings your kisses spin
a cricket’s hitting a crescendo
waves tattoo dark shadows on your skin
sonority, you who vibrates the souls
of those who haunt at night the Port of Cartagena

I toss in smells of apricots and plumes
the Hand of Fatima takes off my veils
your forehead sinks into the sweat of lovers
who sever their veins
oh, dream of the unknowns,
you, latency,
the sigh of blood which flows
in spring both mud and flowers grow

didn’t you know
that when you said I love you
you stepped on roads of fables and folk tales?
you glued your heart onto a purple sunset
smells of lilac and of roses, impregnated strolls,
seduction,
it wasn’t me
it was you who stole his soul

Updates/Clarifications on the Anthology Wounds I Healed: The Poetry of Strong Women

You can find the guidelines for submission HERE.

The deadline for submission is April 15. You still have time to submit.
The copyright of the poems you submit is yours.
We do not accept simultaneous submissions.
We accept previously published poems.
You can submit regardless of the country you are located in.
You cannot submit if you are under 18 years of age.
With respect to the length of your poems, please follow the guidelines for submission. There are several poems that did not, and are exceptional. I decided to publish them. To make things fair, those of you who struggled to follow the guidelines for submission can now submit the third poem. Make sure your poem is no longer than 40 lines. Please label your submission: Third Poem Wounds I Healed: The Poetry of Strong Women
You will receive a notification of acceptance/rejection in the beginning of May.
If you still have questions please use the comment section below.

Gabriela Marie Milton
#1 Amazon Bestseller Author
Books:
Woman: Splendor and Sorrow :I Love Poems and Poetic Prose
Passions: Love Poems and Other Writings

My Dear Readers:

A Twitter Poem for You.

I searched for love in the thrilling nights of the February carnival. Around me scavengers of night. I managed to look like Ophelia dressed in negligees & incapable of understanding my own distress.

The #brutal-ity of the desert.
Voices muffled by sand and thirst. #vss365 pic.twitter.com/y9EMLQzd9y
— Gabriela Marie Milton (@shortprose1) February 7, 2022

An Update on the Anthology Wounds I Healed: The Poetry of Strong Women

To those of you who already submitted a big thank you.

However, several submissions do not follow the guidelines for submissions. Poetry not submitted according to the guidelines will not be taken in consideration. So please follow the guidelines if you wish to submit or if you already submitted and you did not follow the guidelines please consider to revise and resubmit.

You can read the entire call for submission here.

A quick update:

Submission guidelines:

Please submit up to two poems at shortprose12@gmail.com.

Submit your poems in a Word Document, together with a short bio. You should use Times New Roman 12, double space. No poem should be longer than one page. No bio should be longer than 400 characters.

Please title you submission Wounds I Healed: The Poetry of Strong Women.

Example of email submission:

Dear Editor,

Attached please find my submission for Wounds I Healed: The Poetry of Strong Women.

Best,

…..

The deadline for submission is April 15.

The plan is to have the anthology published at the end of May 2022.

Looking forward to your submissions.

Please let me know if you have any questions in the comments below.

Please visit MasticadoresUsa, a beutiful poetry site.

Everyday I work to feature wonderful poetry written by my fellow poets. I will be most grateful if you can read and support these poets. Kindness, generosity, and supporting our community are things that I highly appreciate.

Thank you everyone.

Wishing you a great weekend and a fabulous Valentine’s Day.

Gabriela Marie Milton
#1 Amazon Bestseller Author
Books:
Woman: Splendor and Sorrow :I Love Poems and Poetic Prose
Passions: Love Poems and Other Writings