Digital publication | Page 12

ABANDONMENT

by Maggie Bàra

Somewhere in life she died,

the s.a.d. light leaving her,

the intense meaningfulness becoming too much to take.

So, she is an abandoned home,

with flawless shelves and wires,

waiting for the vacation to be over.

A space set aside somewhere near the soul,

waiting for a filler,

a crown,

a cap,

gilded cavities.

MISTRANSLATION

by Jonathan Andrews

Words, words, words

Pour from the mouth.

Misinferred,

They fall on a deaf mind.

Bridges, pathways, electrons

Scramble to respond.

They hastily package

A reciprocal song.

But the tune is turgid and the music’s malformed and the singer is slurred and restraint retreats

And where one little word would suffice you impose milliards

Evermore intricate, evermore elongated, evermore indecipherable;

Gehenna’s maw is grinning wide: They’re lost in the crashing waves of a Stygian cascade and have to ask

“What?”

So you try it again.

Bit better this time.

But it’s still a hard slog

To neutralise

The mismatched signs.

And you try so-so-hard now

To flower your words.

But now meaning cowers,

Slashed by secateurs.

So you’re quiet.

Because that’s easier.