Self-Portrait
Poet: Özge Lena
it was a big city but I was small
and shivering to meet him
before a huge bookstore
under the gleaming raindrops
of a vermillion evening
promising new things a new life
with him who would come
to me who would hold
my life for me not to fall
apart who would love me more
than I could love myself who
is there staring at me
with a baby in her arms look
at her eyes craving to swallow
me and my life and my being
alone with the books in my arms
my possibility of being anyone
at any time then I understood
that I would never forget
her even when I grew up
to a life of suffering with him
even when I have a baby
in my arms especially
when I saw a girl standing
by a bookshop looking at me
with a deep dread in her eyes
under the hopeless rain
of my shattered life
Özge Lena is a poet/writer based in Istanbul and an English language teacher. She has a published novella titledOtopsi(The Autopsy). Her poems have appeared inInk Sweat & Tears, Green Ink Poetry, Fragmented Voices, Harana Poetry,and elsewhere. Her poetry's shortlisted for the Ralph Angel Poetry Prize 2021, judged by Mary Ruefle. Her poemSummerlepsyis shortlisted by Will Harris for The Oxford Brookes International Poetry Competition 2021.