Katia Arco
A Painted Carousel
A merry-go-round
stops at the call of a whistle—
thoughts unravel
like when I crack open a fortune cookie
hoping to read: you'll find the way out!
Instead, a blank canvas keeps me
within limiting strokes: hues of reds,
whites and periwinkle blues
hide my sentiments like white balloons
floating on an overexposed sky.
That's how the picture unfolds as I ride
the wooden steed hoping to disappear
before the whistle reminds
I've merry-ed far too long in the thought
that the Artist will come to my rescue
and erase me.
Bio
Currently, I teach College Writing and Experiences in Literature at William Paterson University. I hold a BS in Molecular Biology and an MFA in Creative and Professional Writing. I have presented in a few conferences on the topics of empathy and writer agency. Some of my work include a set of children stories (in Spanish) published by the Instituto de Nutrición de Centro America y Panamá (INCAP), in Guatemala City, for the purpose of incorporating healthy nutrition and physical activity into an elementary school curriculum within impoverished areas. More recently, my travel writing article "Following the Heron's Flight" was featured in the 2020 March E-news from Laurelwood Arboretum in Wayne, New Jersey. My short story, "The Blue Boots" won an award and is forthcoming in the Watchung Review, NJCEA (Spring 2023). As I said above, I enjoy reading and writing fairy tales, magic realist poetry and stories.