Violeta Garcia-Mendoza - Advice for a Frog

after Jessica Goodheart

Never mind the mud, the pondweed;

don’t apologize. Propel yourself

mouth-first into your appetites—

your every move, a swish,

your every cell, a song swell.

Don’t resist.

Unfold your lungs; breathe deep.

Bounce up and out of this—

whatever dim.

Revision means survival.

You’ve been/ you are/ you’ll be a sequin,

cluster, comma, monster, marvel—

you know more than you think;

believe yourself. Call life what it is:

a cycle; say the sky

is just another word for water.

Violeta Garcia-Mendoza is a Spanish-American poet, writer, and photographer. She is a member of Carlow University’s Madwomen in the Attic Writing Workshops and a reader for Split Rock Review/Press. Her work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and has recently appeared or is forthcoming in Peatsmoke, The Dewdrop, Saint Katherine Review, and elsewhere. Violeta lives with her family in Western Pennsylvania. Twitter @VioletaGMpoet.

Photograph: Rooted by Jared Beloff

Jared Beloff is a teacher and poet who lives in Queens, NY with his wife and two daughters. You can find his work in Contrary Magazine, Rise Up Review, Barren Magazine, Bending Genres, The Shore and elsewhere. He is the editor of the Marvel inspired poetry anthology, Marvelous Verses. His work was nominated for Best of the Net and the Pushcart Prize for 2021. In his off time he dreams of giant squid roaming the deep and at times he believes himself to be a descendent of a tender Sasquatch. Twitter @Read_Instead