The Bell and the Abandoned Church

Photography by George Priniotakis 

George Priniotakis is a professional producer / sound engineer and an enthusiast photographer living in Athens, Greece.
Instagram: @george_priniotakis
FB: George Priniotakis
https://www.flickr.com/photos/199618069@N03/

Ophelia

Poetry by Karina Longo

​​
So there I was:
in the stone church
that isn't a church,
listening to declarations
that aren't love,
through chant that
wasn't sung but bled;
in the eyes I looked at
a man who wasn't,
but maybe was--
scared
(were you?),
topaz eyes carrying
both sun and moon.
Love, hear me:
some things can be,
not just either
or one.
To some questions I had
answers I didn't ask for;
the questions themselves,
uninvited guests at the throat.
And did you feel the tide coming,
filling the room with water
as you spoke,
watching me choke?
The blue flowers
levitating,
the windows crashing;
I didn't look away
from you.
And did you see, for a second,
any trace 
of a cheap thrill? 
Or did you see a woman who'd
have drowned if it meant
leaning on your windowsill?
My hair a stream of dusk light,
as you escaped the tide,
I was dragged, and still,
I smiled.
Karina Longo (she/her) is a Brazilian-Italian neurodivergent poet based in Milan. You can find her work in Expat Press, Apocalypse Confidential, Eulogy Press, Dodo Eraser, Michigan City Review of Books, Some Words, and other places. 
X: @TheDarkestStar_