Poet of the Month
Every month Moon Tide Press features a different poet to celebrate and bring readership to deserving, diverse voices.
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If you are interested in being featured as a Poet of the Month, or want to nominate a poet, please contact editor@moontidepress.com.
Sammy Herrera
August 2025
Sammy Herrera is a Mexican-American poet from the San Gabriel Valley who accomplished much as a youth poet by competing in slams and competitions, performing a poem at a TedX event, working alongside the Say Word slam team, and featuring her work on various stages. After taking a break from open mics and performing to focus on her career as a teacher/educator, she makes a name for herself by placing 1st place in both the OC Poetry Slam in October and Pomona Slam in December.
hands on fire
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This is not the first fire
I will put out
With my bare hands
Look at the burns
Count the degrees
Add them to the seconds
It took my body to tell my brain
This hurts
Please stop
Before my blistered skin
Maps this moment into a memory
Archived into cell membranes
To live in scar tissue
The body’s natural ability to heal
The body’s natural curse to remember
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a banana moon
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The moon looks like a banana tonight
How stupid
And selfish
And cruel
Can the sky be
To push my thumbs into typing up a message
About the moon playing dress up
On a night
Where missing you
Is like keeping the tide from kissing the sand
How unholy of me
To fall to my knees
Crushed heart and all
Talking to the stars
Like the prayers will make it past the Milky Way
It is unbearable
How the palpitations
Still beat in a rhythm
That mimics your cadence
Still sings songs
Wanting to match your harmonies
When I am trapped in the chaos
of being too far away from you
The same moon
You see
Even over state lines
Shaped like fruit
Already in the past
So much time has passed
Light years away from my grip
Still calls me to remember you
As frequently as it visits the sky