"Tell me the name" and "The person with the wound in the head"

by Ali Podrimja

Translated from the Albanian by Genta Nishku

Tell me the name

time is estranging me from my Self
my skin: how to let you go
after so many loyal years 

how to return to you after so many wanders
through the desert 

time is trying new traps
friends of mine: tell me the name

Person with the wound in the head

it’s been days been years been centuries 
that the person with the wound in the head
remains on the white hospital table 

i drain rivers lakes seas
to arrive at the beginning of the wound
i leap over calamity fires times
they say that the end is found beyond the horizon
i stop the burst of lightning
in my palm
for the sick lung to breathe
i liberate the red bird 
from its wound
i pull knives 
snakes
darkness 

it’s been days been years been centuries 
that the person with the wound in the head
remains on the white hospital table 
that wound is so deep
under its shadow
everything gets lost

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Photo cover by Julia Dragan