Laura Villareal earned her MFA from Rutgers University-Newark. Her writing has appeared or is forthcoming in Palette Poetry, Black Warrior Review, Waxwing, and elsewhere. She has received scholarships from Key West Literary Seminar and The Highlights Foundation. More of her writing can be found at: www.lauravillareal.com
Breathing Lesson
the body is a series of strings
hammered
by unripe
cherimoyas
falling as they will
after a truly blue sky
the heart is scaled
without ropes
the likelihood of falling increases
every day
there is no doubt
relámpago
cannot be understood
any other way than
an exhale of light
before thunder
shaken from a snow globe
but mi cielo
whether you are sky
or heaven
i can only face you
as one faces a miracle
breath swollen with guava
i recite your name
like a broken rosary
its beads scattered
stolen by hummingbirds