Poetry of Karina Fiorini.
Illustration by Johannes Buch
Yellow Banks
You were there
under a hesitant sky your lenses snapping lanes
light shifting, angles white
teasing rooflines and apertures
You were there
in the Latin quarter of my brain drifting
along the hips of the Saône, cheers
titillated green bottles lying on the banks
Who cared?
that was the day
when all the maniacs ran free
down the hill into the golden hour
Suspended wishes soaked under the sky-candle glow,
your café concerns rolled silk steps
in ones and twos and threes and fours…
off with the shoe laces!
Lines framed murals, the foreground alight
You were there
flavouring off-key strummed lines
on yellow banks, there you were,
with me
sipping the balmy day.
Last Night
You left me poleaxed last night
Last night you prevented sleep
From drifting in
It was the door
The white door last night
Slammed memories
Ruffled our early noughties
A pretext to silent fights
That flattened pillows
Ploughed through the alphabet
Our currency, a commodity
Skittering in the gloom
Could have done with some warmth
Last night as I frowned upon
Our salad days
At five to five, thereabouts,
Gentle persuasions stirred
The white sheets
Whilst the storm watch withdrew,
patience wearing thin no longer
the door wide open now
Overnight your lips whispered
Surrendered to its first element –
A warm breath on my arm
Karina’s roots spring out of geography and sustainable development. She is now studying literature whilst working on a collection of poems. Fragments, teasing rhythms and subtle colours mark her poetry.
