Nameless Things by Özge Lena

Nameless Things
by Özge Lena

Did you know that carnations smelled of death?
I plucked their petals.

I dug the earth dug deep and deep and deep 
until I pulled the tiny thin bones
and the miniature skull out.

(...once you built a grave for my sorrow in the garden, you said if we planted that
littleness in there, carnations would blossom in the colour of her blood, then
we had carnation jam which we named reincarnation for thirty three 
breakfasts but this was before you left me...) 

I sunstroke them during seven suns.
And glued into each other to form
a dwarf scarecrow.

I named it phantom
as in the word phantasy 
of her standing next to me
calling mummy mummy...

Did you know that naming is taming?

(...once you called me honey and you touched my flabby belly saying we could fill 
this void with whatever we’d like, I hated round things and liked the scabs 
of my razor cuts that I named arrows and I ate them for thirteen
dusks but this was also before you left me…) 

I planted it in the garden to scare 
the emptiness you left behind.
I built a square fence around
to name it tetrameter.

Did you know that I still dread round things? 
And nameless things
like you.

I could never name the blankness
of your absence for seven full moons. 

But now in my nightest nights I often think 
phantom may well fill it in – fit in you
calling from my dreams honey honey.

Did you know that I was allergic to it?

Hear Özge Lena recite the poem on the Viewless Wings Poetry Podcast:

Özge Lena’s poems have appeared in The London Magazine, iamb, Ink Sweat & Tears, Green Ink Poetry, Verse of April, After…, Sky Island Journal, harana poetry, The Selkie, and elsewhere. Her poem “Celestial Body” was selected for Flight of the Dragonfly Press’ 2023 anthology Take Flight. Özge’s poetry was shortlisted for both the Ralph Angel Poetry Prize and the Oxford Brookes International Poetry Competition in 2021, as well as for The Plough Poetry Prize in 2023. X (Twitter): @lenaozge Instagram: @lenaozge