To start off the features for the #HookedOnPoetry project this week, I’d like to share a poem by someone who in many circles needs no introduction. She’s a powerhouse of smarts, wit, and kindness. I love Cina to pieces. If you DO happen to need an intro, she is an International Latina Book Award winning author and writes novels, short stories, poetry collections, and more. Her poetry collection, Poems of My Night, is published by Raw Dog Screaming Press.
She’s sharing with us a little about her poetry and writing below, and then we’re giving an original publish on a new poem by her, which will hopefully grace the pages of an upcoming collection of hers. I absolutely loved it!
Take it away, Cina…
______________________________
I like to think of myself as both a poet and a fiction writer. I enjoy writing horror because I enjoy exploring this dance between good and evil. I also very much enjoy mystery writing because I enjoy working with puzzles and logic and clues. Then there is poetry where I feel I can be most creative in a short space of time. Writing poetry to me feels almost musical. I’m not a musician, but there’s something about a great poem and a great piece of music that seems so similar because I just physically feel both.
I have been focusing on some fiction projects lately, but I’m slowly plugging away at another poetry collection. Below is one of those poems.
I hope you enjoy.
Cina
___________________________________
Photo by David Boca on Unsplash
Scrying
She searches for her futures in a smooth glass
Cobbled together by onyx and obsidian
The pendulum swings above her misfortune
Settling on those crumpled petition papers, black ink
The secrets in the candle wax are obscured by
Herbs, and bark, and the desperate bits of angelica root
Muddied tea leaves give no clarification
Tossed bones jumbled together and fail her as well
The runes laugh at her, the celestial bodies above remain silent
And the cards, how hopeless they are? The Empress is still
The Hierophant turns his head and ignores all earthly pleas
The Wheel of Fortune reversed, and the tarot card of the great
World slips into burning charcoal, erupts, and with that she has her answer
– Cina Pelayo
____________________________
Cina Pelayo, Biography –
Cynthia (Cina) Pelayo is an International Latino Book Award winning author. She has written LOTERIA, SANTA MUERTE, POEMS OF MY NIGHT, and multiple short stories, poems and articles.
Her upcoming novel, CHILDREN OF CHICAGO, will be published by Agora.
For more information or to contact or follow –
Website: cinapelayo.com
On Twitter where I’m most active: @cinapelayo
On Instagram: @cinapelayoauthor
Poems of My Night Poetry Collection
Cynthia Pelayo constructs a narrative in her poetry in response to the work of Jorge Luis Borges that examines the themes and subsequent consequences of insomnia, death, and blindness. There’s a visionary quality to her work that dances along the line between the present world that we inhabit and the other world that lingers beyond the veil. Her poetry folds back this blanket of darkness, and shows readers the quiet violence and beauty that hides beneath waiting to be exposed, experienced, and encompassed.
Pelayo showcases this scream of silence through an urban and metaphysical night as she reflects on the spiritual, the occult, and the everyday happenings that become extraordinary in their own rights. Her poems are sermons, prayers to the voices that surround us in the dark, and comforts to those who watch over us as we sleep. Her style is honest, raw, and her voice will leave readers asking questions about what waits for them in the beyond, and whether or not their sins and frustrations are trapping them in the here and now.
She shows us that all too often, there is nothing to be scared of when the sun goes down, but that sometimes, we have every reason to be afraid, especially as we enter her world of blackness and decay, of smudged fingerprints and burnt pictures. These poems are cautionary tales for those who choose not to cover their eyes, warnings for those who refuse to find the light. And when our dreams come to roost, when our sleep eases us in, Pelayo shows us what nightmares are made of, and why there are some stories we can never escape.
Order direct at Raw Dog Screaming Press
__________________________________________
Take a peek at the last posting here and be sure to check out tomorrow’s poetry by Joseph VanBuren over at Kendall Reviews. You can see all of them in the series and from the past projects here as well. We’ll be sharing poems each week in May, or as long as they last, in celebration and awarness of poetry! Please share and spread the word!
Oh, for the HOOK of a BOOK! 
Pingback: Blog #15: World Goth Day – Musings by Madison