Arts Alive San Antonio

We are grateful and excited that our Monday poetry features have been welcomed and embraced by readers. Today’s poem is by San Antonio poet Diane Gonzales Bertrand and we paired it with Andres Ferrandis’ “Sunrise,” an imaginative compositional collage currently on view at the Ruiz-Healy Arts gallery.

Hope Is an Essential Worker
By Diane Gonzales Bertrand

Hope zooms in rectangles
through family faces on my computer screen.

Hope shelters in place,
waits out the frustration of standing in lines,
measures distance that’s never social.

Hope stays home,
sits beside me in the backyard
laughs as the dogs play
tug-of war with a pecan tree branch.

Hope covers my face
as I discover the foil package
of tamales in the back of my freezer.

Hope washes my hands
in gardenia-lemon suds
after a stressful grocery journey.

Hope massages my neck
after too many hours staring at a screen.
Hope stretches through stiff legs,
takes small steps forward each day.

Hope whispers hope like an imaginary playmate,

Remains an essential worker,
remains safeguarded, remains free.