ABOUT THE AUTHOR

ERICA MARIA LITZ's poetry has been influenced by the culture and the musical roots of Latin America. A resident of Arizona, she is an adult education specialist for the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, poetry mentor with PEN's Prison Writing Mentorship Program, and volunteer copywriter for VALUEusa.org.

The First Dance

By Erica Maria Litz


Mother lay on her side, propped up on pillows,
her heart waving the stark room. The beat
captured a screen. Flawless, it relayed
the waxing moon.

 

I saw the source of first sound,
memory of life before luz. Waves
roused me to move,
mountain rhythms relaying
the waxing moon.

 

In a cumbia trance, I rocked,
safe in my mother's womb. While we danced,
my heart echoed her rhythm, relayed
the waxing moon.



Published October 2008