BIO
Dennis Mont'Ros is a Cuban American and military veteran who holds a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from the University of South Florida. His work has appeared in Visitant Lit, Saw Palm: Florida Literature and Art, and The Texas Review. Dennis is currently working on his first collection of poems. Follow him on Twitter at @pacenciomontros.
Sip
Even before morning citrus watercolors thrum,
she rises, steam from soil
damp and crimson with the marrow
of my desire.
She swims upward, rings of palm bark
and vertices of crepe myrtle perfume.
Below packed earth, I strive
to inhale these wisps
so I may call out. Soil pours into my grimace
as she seeds the clouds
in my stratosphere, dense with ache.
Rains open.
Platinum drops crackle with ozone.
I lay quiet and full-mouthed.
Puddles form, rest, seep
down over parched crocus bulbs,
patina on lost coins,
the cold rim
of a forgotten crock.
Debris and dirt, ash and thirsty sand –
only a taste of liquid passes,
but finally my mouth is rinsed clean.