Poem

Mara Cioroianu

the nights irritate me when my left ear aches — a lull from hearing

now you don’t hear me, I no longer feel your throbbing

I was called to the sea three times

and the waves drew shells across my vertebrae

have mercy

I have mercy

we have mercy

| | |

How many times have you cleansed yourself of plasma

how many fingers cursed your palm into silence

it’s dark and there’s an interlude—

a fate we swim in like grains of rice under a microscope

measure your longing for me

how much stillness does it take to subtract me from your neural net

| | |

it’s dark and I’m cold

the little lights in the dungeon sculpt your face’s temple — so beautiful

———

how many times did I tell you to make space pitch black

to dye the tips of our homeopathic inclinations

it feels as if we’re gaining help from within

we were spectacular and in control of our turnout

we were silenced by frames

we intersect

we embrace with health

you stroke my back

and it’s a moment adrift in a hiatus

bio

Mara Cioroianu is a student at Politehnica University of Bucharest and SNSPA. She has published poetry on various online literary platforms such as Cutra, Literatură și Feminism, DLITE, Versus Magazine and Echinox, as well as in print magazines like Echinox, Z9 Magazine, and Steaua. She is a member of Cenaclul X, contributing to two of its anthologies, Adăposturi and Luminișuri. She has also published in a collective volume with Decopertat, titled bărbați se leagă de lumina mea, eu aprind neoane.