Rosa Gilbert

POETRY

“A Prayer for Autumn,” read by Rosa Gilbert.

A Prayer for Autumn

Give yourself permission to sit
in the coming darkness,
to let the night take over for a time.
Surely, light is never far
behind. But now, just for a while
the sun will let the last bits
of its burning brightness drip
from its rays, days shortened
by the moon’s silver reign.

Sit there. Among rusting leaves
with the crunch of their veins underfoot.
Let their color pour out like blood
that seeps from a broken heart.
Let the crisp wind comfort you.
Let it say, “you are not the only one
that grows sometimes cold.
Stop resisting the rest your soul needs
to be restored to warmth.”

Embrace the reds, oranges, yellows to come.
Mourn as those who have hope,
like the tree losing its leaves weeps
for that which shall return to him.
Gather the foliage from the ground,
sew yourself a garment with these last bursts of beauty,
and give yourself permission to sit —
to let all decompose, be blown away,
to usher in long awaited change.

“Scoliosis,” read by Rosa Gilbert.

Scoliosis

Put your ear to my back and you will hear every syllable
ever whispered against me, pressing down vertebrae by vertebrae.
Each worrisome uncertainty that plagues my mind,
lodged permanently deep within the marrow of my spine.
The pressure of a life that crawls, confined
by the shackles of people-pleasing.

This thorny column has become a caterpillar
awaiting its metamorphosis. To throw off this cocoon
of decaying flesh. Spread heavenly wings, unbound,
no longer tied down by this heavy-laden world.
To flutter into cerulean skies, pierced by light.
Weightless. Glorious. Free at last.

Rosa Gilbert is a stay-at-home mom and publishing assistant at Calla Press Publishing LLC. Born and raised in the Dominican Republic, Spanish is her first language. However, it was through learning English at a young age that she fell in love with words. Her work has been published at Clayjar Review, The Way Back to Ourselves, Prosetrics Literary Magazine, Calla Press, Vessels of Light Literary Journal, among others. She lives in suburban Ohio alongside her husband and daughter. You can find her writing at rosagilbert.substack.com and @rosagilbertpoetry.

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