Two Poems by Sara Pompeo

Adoption

There was a day

we went out looking for angels

it was a Sunday in late August

and she took me to a rose garden

we fingered daisy eyes and

turned over tuscan suns but found

nothing no

stray cherubic feathers

or sacred apparitions in sight

just

bees going mad in their chains

and

strange shapes of clouds rolling

nowhere

she told me if I

speak to flowers with love I can watch

petals grow then she called me

Daffodil and I smiled at the camera

Miss

Mommy

put your shoes back on

and get off the grass

the angels are back in their chambers

and the moths don’t want to dance

I have just swallowed your silver spoon

and set the trees on

fire

---

Prayer

Head, throat, no, chest, shoulders

Yellow pine pews splinter, the Trinity scatter at

Death, a dirty word

Silence, wait,

close your lips for Him,

Thee, thy Father, your father, not my father

Silence, wait

Rosaries ricochet off

flickering cherubs, a pitted cathedral

Hush, hold your breath lean into His

Love, grace, light, mercy

Me my folded hands

Split, snap, shatter

Palms revulse like ex-lovers

Have you ever held the hooves of Sin?

Or slung from Heaven by the skin of your wrists?

Silence, wait

Virgins choking,

Children slurping––

God’s tongues are tied

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Sara Pompeo is a 26-year-old human from Massachusetts. She spent the majority of her life as a nomad writing poetry and drinking wine. She is now a productive member of society working part-time at a vegan restaurant while she completes her BA in English at Salem State University. She is an editor for Red Skies magazine and SSU’s literary journal Soundings East. This is Sara’s first publication.