September 1, 2014

Poetry: A Selection Of Three Poems by Valentina Cano


 Valentina Cano is a student of classical singing who spends whatever free time she has either reading or writing. Her works have appeared in numerous publications and her poetry has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Web. Her debut novel, The Rose Master, was published in 2014.

BECOMING

She is learning to breathe underwater.
Second by swallowed second,

her sponge lungs are hardening.
Drying out inside her rib cage.
She’s already chosen the knife
to carve the anemone gills she’ll need.
One of these mornings
she’ll dip the blade in
and slash herself into
a deep-sea creature.

Artwork by Indiana Voice Journal


A CHILDHOOD JIGSAW PUZZLE

I worked from the outside in.
Pieces of yellow sand
slashed to a sudden drop,
eggshell blue scorched by a paper sun.
Inside pieces next,
the one with the eyelash drawn
like an accent,
a lilting pause
as her hands weighed an apple.
A picture pulsing in the heat
of what came next.



OBSERVATION
 
The people around her
were as blank as her feet,
leaving faceless impressions
in the air she breathed.


~Valentina Cano

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