a place to read poetry

my most recent publication

“i am often lost"

Harness Magazine, March 2024

read online


молитва.

by akvalkova

i ask of you tonight - divine

forgiveness

place upon my hands - spill before my feet

pour your waters over my whiskey hair

my mouth’s been sharp - bitter and harsh

i am on my knees - in front of your sublime

- existence

a beggar yet another time -

my song to touch your ears

a Robin’s tune i’ve borrowed

to deliver you a wreath of faults -

a list of guilts

disrobe my thoughts -

oh divine design -

i have been floating out of control

i am convinced i should be on my knees

- i think - it better - to be absolved of guilt

i ask of you tonight - divine

forgiveness

something’s over me -

in pursuit for meaning defining

my mouth’s gone sticky - my throat is burning

i’ve lost my heart

between the passions pleasures and the plums of life

would you lead

a - soul

sodden with sacrosanct sins

to cross the threshold of haven

my eyes are shut close

- trickling kneecaps pressing down the leather-covered

prie-dieu

- private devotion

in the midst of candles lit for the living and the dead

am i forgiven now

i ask of you

tonight

a distant memory

by akvalkova

rest must given be to souls elsewhere

for memory can dwell so permanently

so patient we must be with their hearts

and all our grievous distress

rest must given be to souls elsewhere

as we don’t want them feeling our agony

for death can be their luxury

nobody

by akvalkova

nobody

sometimes i feel

like nobody

no person

not anyone

for everyone to see

how nobody i can be

nobody

no person

no one

to skip when eyes around

are seeking

everyone

and everybody

nobody

no person

no body

a soul to live

a soul to hide

where soul is shivering

without a home

nobody

but a cacophony deep inside

for nobody’s craving

uncertain undetermined truth

of reputation dark

so nobody can become

somebody

Vigée Le Brun

by akvalkova @aleksandrawrites

previously published in Kintsugi, June 2020 (poetry anthology)

The Clock Struck Twice

by akvalkova @aleksandrawrites

a golden shovel after one of Vincent van Gogh’s letters to his brother Theo.

previously published in Kintsugi, June 2020 (poetry anthology)