If only I could pattern a raft
from red flags, safely sail
through bullshit and wait
for clouds to part, a rainbow
to promise, Mujer,
you’ll never need to feign
interest in his interests again,
I wouldn’t be where I began
wishing this compass pointed up
over north, so I’d grow
into a sequoia, let roots
touch the ocean, let stars be
my lovers, so many, I’d never
know a night without kisses again.
Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo is the daughter of Mexican immigrants and the author of Posada: Offerings of Witness and Refuge (Sundress Publications 2016). A former Steinbeck Fellow, Poets & Writers California Writers Exchange winner, and Barbara Deming Memorial Fund grantee, she’s received residencies from Hedgebrook, Ragdale, National Parks Arts Foundation, and Poetry Foundation. She has work published in Acentos Review, CALYX, crazyhorse, and [PANK]. Most recently her poem, “Battlegrounds,” was featured at The Academy of American Poets, Poem-A-Day. She is a member of Miresa Collective and director of Women Who Submit.
