Symbiosis

The muffled sound of your
maple-infused voice stirred me;
it trapped me
in a vertiginous whirlwind of
fire and water.

What the hell is this—
this fighting that bends, never
breaks—starves, yet
illuminates.

You are the cement of
the sky; the sun casting
skin cancer and eternal glow,
the stars that count wishes
and blow to 

dust.

How can one be the spit of
the smoker—
and the silver faucet that
cleans it?

Blinding fog that chokes
and shows the way;

I am a diver, not a seer.

Sylvia Plath Momentum

Blood-like fragments
in a silver sky—
I know it’s not true;
why, then, should I lie?

The water poisoned;
hellfire 
in my brain—
thoughts like ashes,
yet your smiles remain.

If you can’t see it,
will it destroy you?
I’m still surrounded by
roses, illusions,
boredom.

And love
keeps stuttering
the words of a slut,
embracing what pours
up out of the mud.

Clay for the unwise,
moulding the impure.
I talk to God, yet like

she said;
the sky is empty—

I taste iron.

Karina Longo is a neurodiverse Brazilian-Italian poet based in Milan. Her poetry has been featured or is forthcoming in Expat Press, Be About It Press, Resurrection Mag, Some Words, Dodo Eraser, Michigan City Review of Books, Prosetrics, and elsewhere. Karina was nominated for the Pushcart Prize.  Find her on X: @TheDarkestStar_