BURNING HOUSE PRESS

FROLIC APERTURE

by Rina Shamilov 

i’m bleeding from the knees // my feet kiss the damp of erotic earth // my tired bone gliding thru its alluvium // in my golem body // in my body wet // in my thigh thick as ocean // the artery splits the bone // furtive glance of sunlight peaking thru the skin’s tectonic // i, envying my loose clatter // my gland swollen in the neck // how the sound moves // esophagus gyrating w/ cough // is running towards climax // oh god // OOO

Rina Shamilov is a poet and visual artist from Brooklyn, New York. Her poetry explores self, grief, family, and movement, and she writes to preserve memory and feeling. She is a nonfiction editor at MAYDAY and a managing editor at the Notre Dame Review. Her work has either been published or is forthcoming in The Foundationalist, Club Plum Lit, Mulberry Literary, Pink Disco, Udolpho, The Laurel Review, Kismet Magazine, Ranger, Heavy Feather Review, and Another Chicago Magazine, among others. Her chapbook, My Mother’s Armoire, was recently published by Bottlecap Press. Several poems from her collection have received an honorable mention for the 2025 Billy Maich award at the University of Notre Dame, sponsored by the Academy of American Poets. She has written nonfiction pieces for Lilith, The Forward, and New Voices, where she serves as an arts and culture editor.