Marina Carreira

Prayer to Saint Brigid

I tear a strip of cloth 
from my favorite old shirt, 

brave the polar wind 
and hang it on my door 

so that you find us 
in the whiteout, 

that you mark this mantle
so it eases all ache 

in the gloaming.
In this blizzarded Imbolc,

I pray, make it spring 
faster, turn the snow 

into scillas, the ice into ivy 
spreading over houses, 

so that we are encased 
in breathing, bursting, 

blooming things. 
How long can you survive

surviving? I am ready 
for the changing 

of the light, for birthing 
of lambs. I am ready 

for life again, that messy, 
moist, marvelous thing. 

---

Marina Carreira (she/they) is a queer Luso-American poet artist from Newark, NJ. She is the author of TantoTanto (Cavankerry Press, forthcoming 2022) and Savethe Bathwater (Get Fresh Books, 2018) . She has exhibited her art at Morris Museum, ArtFront Galleries, West Orange Arts Council, Monmouth University Center for the Arts, among others. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing and is pursuing a D.Litt. in Fine Arts and Media. Her work investigates identity as it relates to gender, urban, queer, and bicultural first-generation spaces. Keep up with her at hellomarinacarreira.com.