by Alara Kaplanoğlu
Untitled (For Iris)
Iris I am chewing this gum for you
and the coins are falling out of my
pocket there is a hole inside it
a true vortex in your name
Every time I come back I find
this city a little more changed
Like that misplaced brick by
your house but still you show me around
Sound travels far
It travels out of common love
Kids on buses stare at us like
horses in carriers
like barnyard dogs with
gumballs inside their
heads we
lived for those
minor moments
We have loved men
We understood them
Which became important
Eventually
to say
Men go on walks to
Run out of time
Naturally
You are punk in some ways
And in some ways you are the light
I’ve lost my dimension
And looking at your hands
I realize they are small
Iris don’t look at the sun
DOG RUN TIME
As tears well up
your eyes
feel like burnt toast
I tell you about
the death of
our brown dog
Your lips
just burst open
and no one can take
this moment from
your runway face
Dog run time
said the man with a wife
Dog run time
****
Alara Kaplanoğlu is a former sea bird researcher from Istanbul. She can be found on Instagram @alarak6872