lazarus / eric james cruz 

The hand that swept

dust off my face

carried voices

kept the dark

that one beautiful noise

growing in my chest

since birth.

Eric James Cruz is a high school English teacher and poet who lives in San Antonio, Texas.  His works have most recently appeared inBlack Napkin Press, River River Review, and Carve.  He is currently pursuing his M.F.A. in poetry at the M.F.A. Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College.