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14th Anniversary Edition, Live Encounters Poetry & Writing Volume Six Nov-Dec 2023.
Returning to Mother, poem by Maria Castro Dominguez.
Returning to Mother
earth, I return grounded
offering petals of broom,
roots of Peruvian maca,
translucent coins of Honesty.
Coca pipes and tobacco leaves,
fragrant sap from the copal tree,
stone amulets of a house
a field and a swarm of cattle.
Happy seeds of peonies,
crystal beads that beam at night
and San Nicholas’ bread soldiers.
I lay your table with all this, chanting
for a miracle, for you to reappear.
I scatter drops of lavender oil waiting
for the essence to rise, the vault to open
and for you to walk back in smiling.
© Maria Castro Dominguez
Maria Castro Dominguez is the author of ‘A Face in The Crowd’ her Erbacce–press winning collection and ‘Ten Truths from Wonderland’ (Hedgehog Poetry Press) a collaboration with Matt Duggan. Winner this year 2023 of the first prize in The Plaza Poetry Prize and third prize in Brittle Star´s Poetry Competition 2018. Finalist in the 2019 Stephen A DiBiase Poetry contest NY and was highly commended in the Borderlines Poetry Competition 2020. Her poems have appeared in many anthologies and journals such as Apogee, The Long-Islander Huntington Journal NY, Popshot, The Stockholm Review, Live Encounters, PANK, Empty Mirror, The Chattahoochee Review and The Cortland Review.