Harvest, did you know – Poetry by Maria S. Picone

storm clouds painted that ochre hue,
gilt leaf spinning, paintbrush breezes,
wheat stalks curling threshed & drying,
from dark blue deluge downpour
you came

if you follow
ribbon slopes, rainwater rushing,
you will find plate tectonics harmonizing
days of drying
out, these cries for water
you will & will not
follow

you breathe in fire & water,
afar the field from where you are
afar the harvest, field too far,
the water far, the fire where you are
chokes up the sky,
painting orange overtones
you breathe in
clouds

you see unearthed
pill bugs dying, burnt horizon lighting
up the waterless land, drying out:
earthworm after rain,
earth worn after

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About the Poet

Maria S. Picone has been published in Ice Floe Press, Moonchild Magazine, and Whale Road Review. She won Cream City Review’s 2020 Summer Poetry Prize. She loves writing about the ocean, place, and memory. Her website is mariaspicone.com, Twitter @mspicone.

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