~ Delta Poetry Review ~

Chloe Rodriguez

My Porch Eaves Sing at Night

with the croaks of frogs hitting high-low notes in the

southern silence and the American Spirit smoke curling

up to the crescent moon, I pull another from my blue

pack. In the distance, the coyotes cry, mimicking my

coughs to a campfire starred sky as I rock to and fro—

and to and fro—thinking of my father’s Jesus, white

and prestigious. Magnolias sweeten the air, breathing

in the thick and humid. My breaths, almost wild, gasps

between puffs. The air this time of year never feels easy

to breathe. Its hot air, viscous charged with the electricity

of late summer storms, of nights spent indoors thinking.

Hoots of owls and singing legs of crickets, long after the

hour of gloaming, remind me it isn’t Sunday for two more

hours, so I convince myself there is still time for sinning.

Chloe Rodriguez is a poet, writer, and South Florida native. Chloe has her BA in English with a concentration in Creative Writing and a minor in Philosophy from Florida International University. She is currently an MFA candidate for Creative Writing with a focus in Poetry at Florida State University, where she is also a Graduate Teaching Instructor and Reading-Writing Center Consultant. Her work has appeared in The South Florida Poetry Journal’s Anthology of Florida Poets, and she has poems forthcoming in The Windward Review. Chloe is currently completing a full-length book of Poetry, as well as a Memoir.