Rachel Orta

Two Pieces

Fool’s Spring Benediction

Pearlescent sheen, ice 

a sheet, holy laid atop 

communion cup. Glossed over 

as lips slick with praise,

Spring’s arrival to service 

will be late. Under blanket of white 

struggles to shake itself awake, 

or bloom fully yet 

from the garden bed. 

Altar of wintertide a slush mountain 

erect, encircled by a moat of grime 

soaked hoary wet. Streets lined 

in offering, coins of salt in donation 

of warmth or melt.  

Birth announcement 

before congregation is broadcast, 

first robin’s egg, before color 

is ushered to sky, 

satin blue filling in pews of gray. 

Sun prays until beads of sweat break

over branches of evergreen 

and emaciated trees. 

Each year this ritual 

monotony, Spring goes on 

interrupting. Wild preacher 

proclaiming pastel 

shades, coming to in vigor, Violets 

to baptize the greenery, 

Rose, to clothe 

by way of thorns, sinners 

in sacred sensation 

Lilac sprigs

 as fireworks, bursting mid-air, 

sky-reaching each petal 

to cloud in prayer. 

With an invocation of divine 

words to Winter, Spring

preaching vitality, 

bestows a closing blessing,

declares Amen

My Non-Flower Elements

Flower, compiled 

             Of petal, lust-er, 

Muse, moon, myth 

             Cosmos come to respire, 

                                     Perfumed by universe, tittle of mineral

            Orchid of my tale, a rorschach -

Of marbled lake air

Of my mother’s pained hands 

Of my grandmother’s pained hands 

Of cereal, almond milk, half a banana

Of drops of chlorine and old lady spit 

Of light overcast 

Of rush, as if forever would grow limbs and vanish 

Of leaves, yellowed, asking as I, to be crushed 

Of river running glorious, never weighted same twice 

Of non-flower things, feigning petals 

Of pursed lips 

Of poetry 

Rachel Orta (she/her) is from Milwaukee, WI. She makes a habit of conversing with Lake Michigan and telling the deer her secrets. A list of her recent publications and links to social media can be found here - https://linktr.ee/RachelOrta