This Oh So Bearable Lightness
If you should lose this oh so bearable lightness
be warned, I shall overturn your day,
tear it apart, ensure it ends in the dark.
I’ll mould your skin in sodium yellow,
load you with enzymes till your gut swells
and your head and heart no longer belong to you.
If you should miss the flight of a thought,
I’ll grind your voice, lock it in an hourglass.
I’ll buckle your feet, numb your hands,
I won’t take no or sorry for an answer, I won’t believe
a word you say, I’ll encapsulate you in ethanol,
make you choke away your larynx.
I’ll plot on a map new nodules, pin your throat
and turn your eyes into footballs; your chin will lean
on your shoulder, you’ll be my other creature, She.
I’ll keep her safe in a cyberspace file, she’ll act
in ways you may not approve of, skin to water she’ll sink,
she’ll sing rough tunes, cackle and snort,
show you the back of her tongue, the glint of her uvula.
She’ll hitch up hems, wear her face loose-lipped, she’ll be
the first to stir and leave her keys in a jug.
She won’t dip and delve between a yes or a no, a just
in case, she’ll flaunt her fruit, no matter how raw,
with an oh, what joy it is!
If she forgets such lightness, I’ll clamp her limbs,
I’ll pull and squeeze and twist till she’s an endless line
and then – I’ll turn her into words.
Zoe Piponides was born in Birmingham and now lives in Larnaca. Published work includes a collaborative novel: Payback, based on the Cyprus haircut crisis and poems in various anthologies including Eighty Four (Verve) and Nicosia Beyond Barriers (Saqi/Commonwealth). She co-edited Larnaka The Anthology, 2021.