Yerma
by Jeannine M. Pitas
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If you'd only let me
I could show you the sun
blinking among the trees
the wildflowers growing
amid the grass of your husband's pastures
Yerma
If you'd only let me
I could show you the space between
the stomp of the flamenco dancer
and the satin of her dress
between the mask and the face
between the finger
and the guitar string
Yerma
If you'd only listen
to your neighbor's wise words:
Only women turn to dust for nothing.
I would take the dust
that you've become
cup it in my hands, plant it
in the ground
and water it until finally
you'd spread over the grass
like dandelions
covering your pastures
with gold
*Yerma (which translates from the Spanish as “Barren”) is the title character in Federico Garcia Lorca's 1934 tragedy of a childless woman in a loveless marriage in rural Spain whose depression and desperation ultimately lead her to madness.
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