Two Poems by Mariana Mcdonald

Such a Green Blue Eye 

Such a green blue eye 
this eye 
that sees the
face of death

Such a perfect 
pitched ear 
that hears its 
plaintive breath

Such a tender skin
that crawls 
when prickled 
by its touch

Such a cleaved heart 
that beats
too quickly
and too much 

The Soldier's Fear

I think I know the soldier's fear,
who wonders with each breath
which member of her troops will
next be visited with death.

Bombs explode volcanic,
bullets zing ahead.
No time to hesitate at graves,
no dirges for the dead. 

Bodies strewn about like leaves
the only rite she sees, 
and grief itself is just one more
among the casualties.

Mariana Mcdonald’s poetry has appeared in Crab Orchard Review, Lunch Ticket, The New Verse News, Les Femmes Folles, Southern Women’s Review, We Are Antifa, Poetry in Flight/Poesía en Vuelo, Fables of the Eco-future, Stone Sea and Sky, and Anthology of Southern Poets: Georgia, among others. She lives in Atlanta.