Issue > Poetry

Regina Colonia-Willner

Regina Colonia-Willner was born in Rio de Janeiro, grew up in Paris, and moved to the United States in 1985. She has published four collections of poetry and short stories, including Canção para o Totem (Song for the Totem), which won the Jabuti Prize, Brazil's Pulitzer. Fluent in five languages, Colonia has worked as journalist and served as writer-in-residence at the University of Georgia, Athens. She holds a PhD in neuroscience.

The Long Diagonal

From Atlanta to Seattle, the long flight
trouts beneath the April moon. The young

Buddhist monk in me drums nails with gusto
into the coffin's lid. Darkest green

spruce and snow: among the clouds,
the mountain.

Beyond Seattle, the ocean vibrates
like a flight of geese at dawn.

Gallop

With my hand still fragrant from the horse's face,
I took the bread—the horse's heart
still galloping in mine.

I took, with that same right hand the bread,
the Kairos,
and the newness of its fragrance floated
over the rooftops,
over the mulberry trees,
into the world.