Maura Way
Originally from Washington, DC, she lives in North Carolina, by way of Boise, Idaho. Maura’s work has previously appeared in Hotel Amerika, Beloit Poetry Journal, The Chattahoochee Review, and Poet Lore. ANOTHER BUNGALOW (Press 53), her debut collection, was released in 2017. She has been a schoolteacher for over twenty years, most recently at New Garden Friends in Greensboro.
Salamander
You regrow limbs. I know what triggers
this kind of response. Cells remember. I
make a motherhood not by mitosis but re
generation. A branch must break for the
dormant cytoplasm to even know we can
begin. Protect the wound. Foster magic in
your immune system; it will be how you find
the extent of your reach. It is only natural.
Just because it is in your genes, doesn't
mean it isn't difficult. They say you can
bend hell, they say you are a mud puppy.
We know that scarring slows down your
process, but doesn't stop it. All together.