Rose Maria Woodson

YEARN

prayer breathes

out of us bright red bog

from bridges we drop reflexed

ashes like petals

breathing like seraphim rarefied

air vines all

about us

as if

to say we could

make a way through the fog

our hands skimming waters

gleaning

cranberries

whispers

ebbing

Rose Maria Woodson is an MFA candidate at Northwestern University. She has been published in numerous journals including African American Review, Blossombones, Ariel XXIII, Paradigm, Melusine, Quantum Poetry Magazine, Foliate Oak, Wicked Alice, OVS Magazine, Magnolia: A Journal of WomenÕs Socially Engaged Literature, Volume II and Jet Fuel Review.