Lara Gularte lives and writes in the Sierra foothills of California. Her book of poetry, “Kissing the Bee,” was published by The Bitter Oleander Press. January 10, 2018. Her poetry depicting her Azorean heritage, is included in a book of essays called “Imaginários Luso-Americanos e Açorianos” by Vamberto Freitas. Additional writings may be found in The Gávea-Brown Book of Portuguese-American Poetry, and in Writers of the Portuguese Diaspora in the United States and Canada. Gularte earned an MFA degree from San Jose State University where she not only served as a poetry editor for Reed Magazine, but received the Anne Lillis Award for Creative Writing, along with several Phelan Awards. Her work has appeared widely in journals and magazines, and has been included in many national and regional anthologies. In 2017 she traveled to Cuba with a delegation of American poets and presented her poetry at the Festival Internacional de Poesia de la Habana. She is currently an assistant editor for Narrative Magazine.
KISSING THE BEE
She waits for the slow sun,
the long pull from the earth
after rain.
Sunlight passes through her.
Glands turn to pollen.
From the bed she rises,
legs hanging deep in darkness.
The sudden burst of seedpod
and leaves sprout from her ribs.
She opens in a whorl of bloom,
smear of color.
Her body becomes a busy, dark flower.
Her center attracts the bee.
The bee wiggles itself
into her sticky womb.
They curl together,
till longing turns to dust.
