Planted Organ

An Istanbul of a water war, and the surprise
of a forbidden love. The Bosphorus was besieged
by coastal submarines and metallic battleships,
then curfews were declared. Northern forests
were already on fire, and I was burning for you.
Bronze smoke descended on the skyscrapers,
tanks prowled in the avenues as the Disaster Army
patrolled Istiklal Street in their sea-blue uniforms.
I hid in the ruins of history while coming to you,
my heart throbbed in my throat with the thirst
for licking your tears. Both continents were dying
for a single drop, the desperate were selling
their kidneys for a turquoise bottle. They carried
it home like a trophy while I carried you
inside me like a planted organ that will end me
because it once belonged to the enemy.

Bosphorus Blue

It is midwinter, I am in a metropolis
bleeding into two continents.

It is the driest January ever
and I am in trouble, in fire, in love.

My desire rises like the voice of a soprano
in the pitch of an aria, so candied

but so sharp and shrill that it almost cuts
the back of my tongue.

I spit it in my palm. It is the brightest blue
like the Bosphorus before

turning into a marsh. It glistens like a shard
of extinct sky. I feed it

to my lover. It quenches our wildfire
for a while. But then desire, all over again.  





Özge Lena is an internationally published poet whose work appears in The London Magazine, The Oxford Blue, The Madrid Review, The International Times, and numerous magazines and anthologies across continents. She is the author of the monthly "Extinction Column" for the Oxford Climate Society blog. She recently presented her poetic approach, "Catapoetics: Poetry of the Catastrophe," at the International Conference on Poetry Studies, Birkbeck, University of London. Her poetry has received the Pushcart Prize, Editor’s Choice Award, The Best Spiritual Literature Award, and Best of the Net nominations, and was shortlisted for the Oxford Brookes International Poetry Competition, The Plough Poetry Prize, Ralph Angel Poetry Prize, Black Cat Poetry Press Nature Prize, and other awards.

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