Flower Explorations 4 by Valentina Luna
Ellen June Wright | I Temporarily Pull Mom Back From the Edge
of the forest called dementia with hymns
like markers to find her way home,
and even as I sing and hear her hum along,
I knew I'd set it down, jackal that I am.
My own memory fading, I need to grip
any sweet moment between us.
I needed her approval but seldom got it.
The misfortune she carried all those years,
the embodiment of her very worst day. Now
near 100, she's not the 5’7" giant I remember—
bent back, almost blind and deaf.
I don't want her to go into the wilderness
alone. I want her to hear a faint song
in the distance, if only in her one good ear.
Ellen June Wright is an African American poet with British and Caribbean roots. Her work has been published in Plume, Tar River, Missouri Review, Verse Daily, Gulf Stream, Solstice, Louisiana Literature, Leon Literary Review, North American Review, Prelude and Gulf Coast, and is forthcoming in the Cimarron Review. She’s a Cave Canem and Hurston/Wright alumna, a Pushcart Prize nominee and Best of the Net nominee.
Born in 1995 and raised in Bogotá, Colombia, Valentina Luna moved to Mexico City to study at Universidad Iberoamericana where she obtained a BBA in Business Administration in 2017. In CDMX Valentina studied art intermittently, until moving to New York City in 2023 to continue her studies at The Art Students League of New York, Parsons School of Design, and New York School of the Arts.
Valentina's diverse background has allowed her to gain experience in various disciplines, and enrich her multi-cultural heritage and unique perspective, continuing her journey into the play of light and color, capturing the essence of the world that envelops us, while remaining firmly grounded in the realms of pleasure and aesthetics. Valentinas' work draws profound inspiration from the dynamic culture and lush landscapes of her homeland, Colombia.
Valentina's diverse background has allowed her to gain experience in various disciplines, and enrich her multi-cultural heritage and unique perspective, continuing her journey into the play of light and color, capturing the essence of the world that envelops us, while remaining firmly grounded in the realms of pleasure and aesthetics. Valentinas' work draws profound inspiration from the dynamic culture and lush landscapes of her homeland, Colombia.
