THE LAST THING I SAW BEFORE MY ACCIDENT
The silver cross hanging from my rearview
mirror, blessed by an Esquipulan priest
with water from la Basilica, holy
Milagroso Cristo Moreno – Patrono
de Guatemala. Saved from the wreckage,
Enterprise Rental mailed la cruz in a
simple white envelope. In my Delta
’88 Oldsmobile, magnificent
replica of my sturdy grandparent’s
car, (the one I crashed in), a friend inquired
about its significance. I told him
my belief is la cruz protects my life.
It’s nice, he said, noticing its luster.
Tarnished I thought, and yet so resilient.
Laura Sweeney facilitates Writers for Life in central Iowa. She represented the Iowa Arts Council at the First International Teaching Artist Conference in Oslo, Norway. Her recent poems appear in Appalachia, Hedge Apple, Pilgrimage, Potomac Review, Harpur Palate, Women’s Studies Quarterly, Ithacalit, and St. Katherine’s Review. Her recent awards include a residency at Sundress Publication’s Firefly Farms, and a scholarship to attend the 2019 Sewanee Writers Conference.
Amethyst Review 
Nice one. That silver cross was a survivor.
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