"guerreiro quente" by Márcia Tannure
superstitions by Kristine Ma
the rain blows in from the open window but neither
of us make a move to close it. instead, we fill our lungs with river water
and tell ourselves
that the salt in the sea will make us happy again.
again, the lightning flashes behind the blinds and the thunder
follows. when the thunder wakes up little brother, you are finally here.
here, there is no room for empty
words, so i fill the spaces in between.
last night, i woke up with a sharp stone in my stomach and my mom
told me stories about cold gases and young girls.
infertility eating them alive. nai nai hands me a pack of eight
hair clips for me to take home. on the train ride, i trace
the gold spines. i found a pair of shoes and another under the bed
but they were wet, hard as bricks, soles drowning in the spaces
between words. i soak them in sky.
you can pray for the rain to stop, he said,
but explanations are futile where there is no meaning,
so it’s summer,
so it’s weather maidens and sky fish,
so it’s raining outside and i am falling upwards.
of us make a move to close it. instead, we fill our lungs with river water
and tell ourselves
that the salt in the sea will make us happy again.
again, the lightning flashes behind the blinds and the thunder
follows. when the thunder wakes up little brother, you are finally here.
here, there is no room for empty
words, so i fill the spaces in between.
last night, i woke up with a sharp stone in my stomach and my mom
told me stories about cold gases and young girls.
infertility eating them alive. nai nai hands me a pack of eight
hair clips for me to take home. on the train ride, i trace
the gold spines. i found a pair of shoes and another under the bed
but they were wet, hard as bricks, soles drowning in the spaces
between words. i soak them in sky.
you can pray for the rain to stop, he said,
but explanations are futile where there is no meaning,
so it’s summer,
so it’s weather maidens and sky fish,
so it’s raining outside and i am falling upwards.
Kristine Ma is an Asian-American writer and high school junior hailing from Michigan. She received three national gold medals and several other recognitions from the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. Additionally, her poetry has been recognized by the Young Poets Network and is forthcoming from The Hunger and Bridge: The Bluffton University Literary Journal.
Márcia Tannure is a visual artist, born in Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil. She started her artistic practice when studying porcelain painting. Later, she studied observation and artistic design at INAP / MG. She graduated in Social Work from PUC-Minas with a postgraduate degree in art therapy from Projeto Terra / MG. Some years later she moved to Rio de Janeiro / RJ, where she studied Sculpture at the School of Fine Arts of UFRJ. At the visual arts school Parque Lage she studied contemporary art and exhibition design. She currently lives in Niterói / RJ, Brazil, where she develops research in fire arts and has great inspiration from nature. You can find her on instagram: @marciatannure
