Two Poems by Laura Sobbott Ross

Poetry – Issue 13 | September 2011

Starfruit

In Bora Bora, the natives
bury their dead in the front yard.
The bones of grandfathers,

stillborn babies, and reckless uncles
lost to petal slicked inclines,
all locked in crypts laid out

like stepping stones between
vines of vanilla, and children
knee deep in rain puddles.

We took postcard photos
from inside our jeep of tourists,
grinding upward past hibiscus

and nodding palms,
coconut pearling inside shells.
Our French guide plucked starfruit

then hacked it thinly with his machete.
Below, blue oceans kneaded with light.
We stood like gods on the summit,

eating stars at the soft edge of cloud,
pondering the wayward
migrations of the living and the dead.

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Laura Sobbott Ross was born in Mississippi by way of Venezuela. She lives on a peninsula, but loves islands, including St. Lucia, Grenada, and Bora Bora, where she got married. She hopes one day to visit Greece and Patagonia. Her poetry appears in Calyx, Florida Review, Natural Bridge, Tar River Poetry, and The Valparaiso Review, among others. Read her chapbook, A Tiny Hunger by Yellow Jacket Press.

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Literary Bohemian

Poetry – Issue 13 | September 2011