The Ofi Press Magazine

Maria Isakova Bennett: 3 Poems Published

Poems by Maria Isakova Bennett (UK)

Published in The Ofi Press issue 49

 

 

 Eshtaktoulaka

            A friend is a single soul dwelling in two bodies                                                                                                                           Aristotle

 

                        jigsaw pieces are scattered –

beside a smile

                        open arms make a curve –

reach –

            he throws back his head

                                    his throat on display

their faces –

                        upturned like cups

foreheads to be blessed

                        lips to be kissed

                                    space is a wound

 

 

 

Note: eshtaktoulaka                   (Arabic) I miss you

 

 

Vinculum at the Walker Art Gallery Liverpool

                    

The surface of the print,

a mirror, holds the skim of our reflection,

your right eye in the window,

 

my lips kissing dark curls on stripped wood,

and I can measure the angle of your jaw

by the timber supports running

 

from steps to the red brick wall.

Sandstone dyes the leaf floor,

funneled light picks up magenta

 

as last rays fall. We become the work,

feel vertigo, hold on.

 

 

 

Note: Vinculum, by Juliette Losq: awarded Visitors’ Choice Winner

(John Moore’s Painting Prize 2014) 

 

 

Vixen

 

                        Past marram                


                                    driftwood

                        the remains

                                    of a bottle

 

                        beyond dunes

                                    down steps

                        into mud

                                    over razor shells

 

                        toward sandpipers

                                    stippling the edge

                        where terns

                                    unearth worms

 

                        she sashays

                                    stretches her neck

                        glances

                                    left and right

 

                        The sky unzips

                                    above cirrus

                        above mewing

                                    oystercatchers

                                   

                        Feathers scatter

                                    as she lunges 

 

Maria, an artist, art teacher, and poet from Liverpool, works for charities on Merseyside, and has had reviews, poems and articles published online and in print in the UK, US, and Ireland. Maria was awarded first prize in Ver Open Poetry Competition judged by Clare Pollard in 2014 and has recently been placed in several poetry competitions, highly commended in the Gregory O’ Donoghue Poetry Competition, shortlisted in Munster Literature Chapbook Competition, Cinnamon Press Pamphlet Prize, and also in their Debut Poetry Collection Competition. Maria collaborates with poet Michael Brown reading and running workshops in art galleries.

Image: "Jigsaw Puzzle Pieces" by Electric Eye.