In Alex Keramidas’ incisive poem in miniature, a struggle of life and death occurs across multiple forms – and bodies – blurring the humanity of one with the sinister “insecticide” of another.
After the ellipsis
Here is a point
to be observed with care
and love.
I am a human being
in an insect’s disguise.
She is an insect
disguised as a person.
A pile of sand,
her head and feet bulging
at both ends.
Yet this is not a happy memory.
The fact of her,
flattened.
With her death,
my insect soul is
suddenly
removed.
About Alex Keramidas
Alex Keramidas is a poet based in South East London. English is her fourth language. She enjoys working with translation and connections between different languages. She has published work in Dears magazine, Fugitives and Futurists and Rivista. Her first poetry pamphlet will be published by Bored Wolves in late 2023. Find her on Instagram: @alexandrakera
Feature image: detail from Dora Maar’s The years lie in wait for you (c.1935), The William Talbott Hillman Collection. Under fair use via Wiki Art.