Spring – Poetry by Gabriela Marie Milton

White.
We drank two lemonades sweetened with honey at the old terrace by the church.
My body arched like a branch under the heaviness of cherry fruit.
I read from a book by Odysseas Elytis.
You smiled and listened.
The skies sighed.
The bells tolled twice.
Flowers silhouetted against my blood.
Wishes blossomed in your sweat.
I anointed your kiss.

Later, in the autumn, you wrote.
“I am in love with you. I do not understand how it happened.”
Neither do I.
I told you: that which is against our will is unjust.
I have no other answer.
Yet.

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About the Poet

Gabriela Mare Milton (pen name) is the author of the poetry collection Passions: Love Poems and Other Writings (Vita Brevis, 2020). Gabriela also authored three novels. Under the name Gabriela M, she was awarded Author of the Year at Spillwords Press (2019) and her poetry was featured by Spillwords Press, Vita Brevis, Indian Periodical, Gioielli Rubati Poetry (translated in Italian by Flavio Almerighi), Tuck Magazine, KashmirPen, “Heretics, Lovers, and Madmen,” LiteraryYard, Proletaria, Free Verse Revolution, and other venues. Gabriela was selected “Author of the Month” at Spillwords (April 2019). Her poem “The Breath of Love and Death” was voted “Publication of the Month” at Spillwords (November, 2019). Gabriela’s work was included in the following anthologies: America’s Emerging Poets Southeast Region (Z Publishing House, 2018); Florida’s Best Emerging Poets (Z Publishing House, 2019); and Pain & Renewal (Vita Brevis Press, 2020). She blogs at shortprose.blog.

“With lush language and lavish imagery, Gabriela M. evokes a fantastic world ripe with emotion.” Christina Schwarz, New York Times Bestselling Author.

Gabriela Marie Milton’s book “transports us on a journey of love as much as it delivers us a thematically diverse set of emotions. This is a superb collection.” Bobbie Peyton, San Francisco Book Review.

For the first time in nearly five years, Vita Brevis is closed for submission. Read the full story here.