Lara Gularte lives and writes in the Sierra Foothills of California and she is El Dorado County Poet Laureate 2021-2023. Her book of poetry, Kissing the Bee, was published by “The Bitter Oleander Press,” in 2018. Her forthcoming book, Fourth World Woman, published by “Finishing Line Press, will be available January 2023. Nominated for several Pushcart Prizes, Gularte has been published in national and international journals and anthologies. Her poetry depicting her Azorean heritage is included in the The Gávea-Brown Book of Portuguese-American Poetry.  She is affiliated with the Cagarro Colloquium: Azorian Diaspora Writers, at the Portuguese Beyond Borders Institute (PBBI), California State University-Fresno. In 2017 Gularte traveled to Cuba with a delegation of American poets and presented her poetry at the Festival Internacional de Poesia de la Habana. She’s a proud member of the esteemed, “Escritores Del Nuevo Sol.”  Gularte is a creative writing instructor for Arts in Corrections, at Mule Creek Prison.

AFTER THE END TIME

The hour of darkness, dirt in her eyes, pulse distant, she travels earthen tunnels,

the sod roof of the mole who rests deep in his room.

Beneath the ground, an underworld where rocks and bones are equal.

Endless night turns under the mole—

ghosts of the gone time, memories sunken into long years of loss.

Inside a raccoon carcass, a dark wing.

Deep down, still breathing, she evolves her higher self—

waits for eruption, the earth’s waste to spill,

reveal germinating seeds spurred into living above ground,

seed heads opening to light.

 Lara Gularte

First published by The Bitter Oleander.