| Maria Matienzo was born in Hollywood, FL where she has lived all her life. She is mother to a three-and-a-half year old son, Jose Sanchez. Maria completed her Associate in Arts degree (at BC) in May 2006, and plans to attend the University of Miami where she will pursue a baccalaureate degree in Journalism. While attending BC, Maria was President of Phi Theta Kappa from 2005-2006. She was also Editor of P’an Ku (BC’s Student Literary and Arts magazine), Copy Editor for The Observer (BC student newspaper), and participated in the Competitive Edge Leadership Development Program. She was also appointed the student representative on Dr. Larry Calderon’s President’s Cabinet.
Maria has been writing since she was a little girl. After taking Professor Albo’s creative writing class on South Campus (BC), Maria has been writing more poetry which is inspired by life situations. “My poetry comes from the heart, and I also love to use all of the senses when writing. Being descriptive helps me to put what I see, hear, smell, on paper,” says Maria. Maria hopes to become a magazine editor, and plans to attend Columbia University for her Master’s in journalism.
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Maria Matienzo |
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Grandma’s Gravy
First Place in Phi Theta Kappa Regional Poetry Contest (State of FL)
Freshly chopped garlic simmers at
the bottom of her All-Clad gravy pot
lightly coated in olive oil.
The garlic scented smoke
invites in sun-ripened tomatoes
hand crushed to perfection
followed by
Contadina tomato paste.
She adds a sprinkle of basil,
touch of salt,
shake of oregano,
slowly circling the red-stained wooden spoon
around the pot
dropping in hot sausages and meatballs.
The red, oily sauce bubbles
over the edge of the pot
dripping steadily down the side,
and while no one is watching,
I slip a piece of warm Italian loaf
into the thick red sea
and steal a taste of
Grandma’s gravy.
Rainbow in La Garita, Mexico
Published in P’an Ku Fall 2004 Issue
The sweltering sun
melts its palette,
soft pastels unite.
Golden yellow with red
blend fiery orange with
royal blue creating
purples and teals,
a transparent beauty
against a pale blue slate
surrounded by powdery white
cumulus clouds with
liquid silver linings
glistening in the sky
slowly drifting
in paradise.
Waking up in La Garita, Mexico
Second Place in South Campus Writing Contest for Poetry
At 6 a.m.
ten Mexican relatives, my husband and I, pile into
Tio Juan’s rusty blue Ford pick-up,
set off down rocky roads.
The truck stops at a field of corn,
we pile out, walking carefully over
damp topsoil and wave at farmers,
a huge mountain ahead of us.
We use a long stick to carefully
cross a stream, balancing wet, soggy
shoes on slippery rocks.
Five feet up the mountain, we feed hay
to Tio Wacko’s cows, preparing
for the Sanchez family’s traditional morning beverage.
In a tin bucket twelve glasses sit
along with crushed pure chocolate
and pure grain alcohol.
Each member takes a glass,
adds the amount
of chocolate that suits his liking,
then pours alcohol into the glass,
about an inch up from the bottom.
Tia Maya milks the cow straight into the glass.
It forms a froth that sticks to the lips.
We gulp down the Pajarete.
Our tummies are warm,
we march back to the rusty old truck,
ready to start out our day,
now that we’ve had a dose
of Mexican “café.”
Copyright 2006, Maria Matienzo
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