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Content Warning: blood, death, dark themes

Patricia Tudosa - Remember Your Beginnings.jpg

Özge Lena – Our Lives Lie Here


here lies

         the feathers

of our wings

               plucked


                                                                           here lies

                                                                  the powder

                                                                             of our hopes

                                                             crumbled


here the ruins

    of our joy

                 smoking


                                                                                here our long hair

                                                                that we shaved for them

                                                                                               not to wind around

                                                                                                       their fingers


here our faces

           we hide under bird masks

lie down ill-shaped

                 and ashamed


                                                                                  here is our bodies

                                                                          of the crimson

                                                     of a simurgh smouldering

                                 

                                                              

                                                                                                                   and here lies the life

                                                                                                     a wounded wolf

                                                                                                                        writhing in its own blood

                                                                                                                   in the middle

                                                                                                                                            of a road

Best viewed on desktop, please also find a PDF file available to download here.

Özge Lena is a poet & writer based in Istanbul and an English language teacher. She has a published novella titled Otopsi (The Autopsy). Her poems have appeared in Ink Sweat & Tears, Green Ink Poetry, Fragmented Voices, Harana, The Phare, After, and elsewhere, also forthcoming in iamb. Her poetry was shortlisted for the Ralph Angel Poetry Prize 2021 and her poem Summerlepsy was shortlisted for The Oxford Brookes International Poetry Competition in 2021.

Artwork: Remember Your Beginnings by Patricia Tudosa

(acrylic on canvas, 20x15 in)

Patricia Tudosa is an artist and writer who brings experience across continents, disciplines, and socioeconomic circumstances into her contemplative, often political work. Her paintings have been displayed in the US and Europe. Originally from Romania, she lives in NYC and is available for commissions. https://www.patriciatudosa.com/

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