Golden
Summer after neurostimulator surgery life
is golden. Imitrex injections expire unused.
The Doc praises, hugs me when I rattle a bottle
of painkillers full to the hilt, white pristine pills
almost untouched for months. Mother confesses
she prefers me modified: serene, amenable,
liberated from ice packs. A marvelous, clear forecast
our first summer with a pool. Days I garnish my debut
poetry collection with final poems. Early evenings
we swim during commercials, pause to cheer
for underdogs on America’s Got Talent: aerialists,
contortionists, daredevils ripe with optimism.
Migrating Saharan dust envelops us like a benign sprite.
An older version of The Blue Lagoon teens, we splash,
laugh, slurp mango and mamey smoothies from big
fat party straws. This season, we imagine, resembles
life before the fall. Howie hits the buzzer. It rains gold.
is golden. Imitrex injections expire unused.
The Doc praises, hugs me when I rattle a bottle
of painkillers full to the hilt, white pristine pills
almost untouched for months. Mother confesses
she prefers me modified: serene, amenable,
liberated from ice packs. A marvelous, clear forecast
our first summer with a pool. Days I garnish my debut
poetry collection with final poems. Early evenings
we swim during commercials, pause to cheer
for underdogs on America’s Got Talent: aerialists,
contortionists, daredevils ripe with optimism.
Migrating Saharan dust envelops us like a benign sprite.
An older version of The Blue Lagoon teens, we splash,
laugh, slurp mango and mamey smoothies from big
fat party straws. This season, we imagine, resembles
life before the fall. Howie hits the buzzer. It rains gold.
September 2024
Rita Maria Martinez is the daughter of Cuban immigrants. Her current poetry raises awareness about triumphs and challenges when navigating life with chronic daily headache (CDH) and migraine. Her Jane Eyre-inspired poetry collection--The Jane and Bertha in Me (Kelsay Books)—was a finalist for the Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize. Martinez’s poetry has also been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and appears in The Best American Poetry Blog, Ploughshares, Tupelo Quarterly, and in the textbook Three Genres: The Writing of Fiction / Literary Nonfiction, Poetry and Drama. Follow Rita on Instagram @rita.maria.martinez.poet.
Art: Kelly Cressio-Moeller, Childhood Faultlines. Mixed media: acrylic, ink, paper, mica flakes on basswood panel, 2023.