Fruitless

“Ekstasis” by Ana Prundaru

I spent all of September
lying on the floor
of my sister’s guest room,
cool air billowing
through tissue-thin curtains,
dust adrift in sunlight.

I was waiting for ghosts
to speak to me,
to lift me up with
their rambling histories.
I wanted someone else’s
tragedy to hold onto.

Only in the small hours
could I unclench:
my fists, nails imprinted on palms
from holding myself in,
the space between
my hipbones shuddering.

What do you call a nursery
that never blooms?

The deluge came
unmaking everything.

About the Author

Jen Sepso is an emerging Chinese Canadian poet based in New York City. Her work explores memory, inheritance, faith, and the quiet fractures within love and family.

about the artist

Ana Prundaru is a Romanian writer and artist based in Switzerland. Her collages have been shown in exhibitions, most recently in France and Romania. Her poetry, essays and art appear, or are forthcoming in Third Coast, Florida Review Online, Adroit Journal, Black Warrior Review, Kyoto Journal and elsewhere.