Two Poems By Mariana Mcdonald

Grief's Address
  
Grief's address looks a lot like mine–
the features of the road 
well travelled, and the vehicles 
all bear a similar load. 
  
The postman seeks the numbers 
on the mailbox by my gate.
I tremble at delivery.
I shudder at the freight. 

In Black
  
You're wearing black? 
she commented.
Too hot for days like this.
 
Me, I don't
wear black in heat
at all.
  
I'm mourning,
I said quietly;
silently agreed 
  
death's a quite  
uncomfortable climate 
for the soul. 

Mariana Mcdonald is a poet, writer, scientist, and activist. Her work has appeared in numerous publications, including poetry in Crab Orchard Review, Lunch Ticket, and The New Verse News; and fiction in So to Speak and Cobalt. She co-authored with Margaret Randall the recently-released Dominga Rescues the Flag, about black Puerto Rican heroine Dominga de la Cruz. Mcdonald lives in Atlanta.