I. 
Our Lady of Maize 
rends the seam to expose 
the kernels. She preserves soil 
within her breasts. The sun a halo. 
The quarter moon her root 
chakra. Hair channels snakes—
a fiery nest. She shows 

with stones how to count 
stars in the milky, glowing 
band. Regards royal blue 
wisdom. Her dress 
of clouds dances. Golden 
bowl, sacred holder of seeds, 
encircles eternal hope. 

Our Lady is careful 
not to domesticate 
the wind. Pollinates her desire 
for clean air and water. 
Reciprocity sprouts between 
humans and non-humans 
who inhabit ancestral lands. 


II. 
Divine Mother’s 
star radiates like a third 
eye beneath a golden crown. 
A robe folds and folds 
as she cradles him near her 
breast. A red dress, the color 
of the heart, absorbs 

the destruction of 
blameless communities 
in battles over invisible 
borders. During weekly 
prayers, emerald tears 
flow. They create a rainbow 
of rivulets, cut fissures 

in parched lands, and 
carve lost alphabets. 
Screams cry out in crimson 
languages. She laments 
the loss and the longing. 
Believes in a child. 
He looks away. 

*Publisher’s Notes:

1. Our Mother of Perpetual Help (circa 1325–1480 CE), Byzantine icon of the Cretan school, is venerated by Catholics worldwide. The icon is permanently enshrined in the Church of Saint Alphonsus of Liguori in Rome, the founder of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (aka Redemptorists).

For more information, see About the Icon at the Redemptorists Denver website, and Our Lady of Perpetual Help at Wikipedia.

2. La Conquistadora con Corn Corazon (mixed-media painting, 2006) by American artist Cristina Pilar Acosta (born 1959) may be viewed at Cristina Art & Design on Facebook (8 May 2015). See also her Facebook album North American Madonnas La Conquistadora and La Guadalupe.

Links were retrieved on 14 April 2025.

Cindy Rinne

creates poetry, zines, and fiber art in San Bernardino, CA. She is a nominee for the Pushcart Prize, and her work has appeared in anthologies, art exhibits, and dance performances. Her poetry and visual poetry have been published in The Closed Eye Open, The Journal of Radical Wonder, Lothlorien Poetry Journal, Mythos Magazine, swifts & slows: a quarterly of crisscrossings, and Unpsychology, among others.

Cindy is the author of more than a dozen books, including these six titles: Dancing Through the Fire Door: Guided Journeys in Art and Poetry (Nauset Press, 2024); Words Become Ashes: An Offering (Bamboo Dart Press, July 2021); The Feather Ladder (Picture Show Press, October 2021); Letters Under Rock (Elyssar Press, 2019), with co-collaborators Bory Thach and Edwin Vasquez; Breathe In Daisy, Breathe Out Stones (FutureCycle Press, 2017); and Quiet Lantern: A Novel in Verse (WordTech Communications, 2016).

Author’s website: https://www.fiberverse.com/