By ANA PRUNDARU
Phone Booth Pantoum
Konstanz, Germany
remember, it was the nineties
yours was born from homesickness
a tiny fit of existentialism
a glass confessional, dressed in farewell deliriums
yours was born from homesickness
before you scrolled, hearted and liked
dressed a glass confessional in farewell deliriums
windows cracked open as fortune cookies
before you scrolled, hearted and liked
you pushed those doors apart like an old bruise
windows cracked open as fortune cookies
the receiver swayed, a quiet pendulum
you pushed those doors apart like an old bruise
poured banalities in someone’s cigarette smoke
the receiver swayed, a quiet pendulum
outside, others lining up for their turn
banalities poured in someone’s cigarette smoke
already sand in an hourglass
outside, others lining up for their turn
but it died the simplest Y2K death
already sand in an hourglass
here it is now, in the throat of a museum
but it died the simplest Y2K death
disappeared by just a flip phone
in a museum’s throat now, here it is
here is a lesson in grieving the past
disappeared by just a flip phone
say it was converted to a tiny pub
here is a lesson in grieving the past
a tiny fit of existentialism
say it was converted to a tiny pub
it was the nineties, remember?
Flat-Hunting in Maastricht
Maastricht, Netherlands
following a barge that drifts by
like a floating sickbed
I enter a church
find Bowie swallowing up
the cacophony of carols outside
and books piling next to a blur of pastries
over the courtyard’s uncut grass
the law faculty
fades to frost, fog-draped
not the cocoon I dream of
the room where my foot gets caught
in strangers’ floorboards
why then do I slip in the safety
of bunica’s disappearing kitchen
when the rejection text arrives?
some prayers are undigested fir
like finding trails of a lover’s old joke
growing in the hostel’s stir-fry
each bite acidic, as he tells it again
Ana Prundaru is a writer and artist living in Switzerland. Her poems, essays and collages can be found in Passages North, The Adroit Journal, Black Warrior Review, Third Coast, Florida Review Online and others.
