The Sacrament of the Beans
Under my grandma’s collection
of salt-and-pepper shakers
I watch the ritual washing
of the pinto beans.
She sorts them like she’s reading
a map of the future.
Her fingers move like dragonflies
picking the pebbles out
and brushing the rest into the pot.
Pours out more and they clatter
onto the counter. Spins them
around the copper pot in the sink,
looks into the vortex,
and says, “You must always remove the bits of dirt and rock.”
I watch tortillas bubble,
smell garlic from the granite molcajete,
and think I understand,
but when I become a woman,
I break a tooth
biting into something soft
that turned out
to be made of stone.
Maria Garcia Teutsch is an award-winning poet and professor. In 2023 she wrote and directed two one act plays, The Revolution Will Have its Sky: a poem in one act, at Studio Apelbaum; and What She Saw in the Loteria Cards at Galerie Z22, both in Berlin, Germany. Her cinepoem, The Revolution Will Have its Sky was a part of the 2023 official selection of the Fotogenia Festival in Mexico City; The Nature and Culture International Poetry Film Festival in Copenhagen, Denmark; The International Poetry Festival in Los Angeles, California, and the Birmingham International Art Film Festival, England. In 2024 the cinepoem won first place at the New Arts International Film Festival. The cinepoem is part of the Revolution Trilogy comprised of her eponymous award-winning poetry collection, her one act play, and her cinepoem. www.poetrepublik.com
Under my grandma’s collection
of salt-and-pepper shakers
I watch the ritual washing
of the pinto beans.
She sorts them like she’s reading
a map of the future.
Her fingers move like dragonflies
picking the pebbles out
and brushing the rest into the pot.
Pours out more and they clatter
onto the counter. Spins them
around the copper pot in the sink,
looks into the vortex,
and says, “You must always remove the bits of dirt and rock.”
I watch tortillas bubble,
smell garlic from the granite molcajete,
and think I understand,
but when I become a woman,
I break a tooth
biting into something soft
that turned out
to be made of stone.
Maria Garcia Teutsch is an award-winning poet and professor. In 2023 she wrote and directed two one act plays, The Revolution Will Have its Sky: a poem in one act, at Studio Apelbaum; and What She Saw in the Loteria Cards at Galerie Z22, both in Berlin, Germany. Her cinepoem, The Revolution Will Have its Sky was a part of the 2023 official selection of the Fotogenia Festival in Mexico City; The Nature and Culture International Poetry Film Festival in Copenhagen, Denmark; The International Poetry Festival in Los Angeles, California, and the Birmingham International Art Film Festival, England. In 2024 the cinepoem won first place at the New Arts International Film Festival. The cinepoem is part of the Revolution Trilogy comprised of her eponymous award-winning poetry collection, her one act play, and her cinepoem. www.poetrepublik.com
