An earthworm is nothing
more than breakfast

——-to the hen, a fat hen
——-is nothing more than feast

to the human, a human
is never more than meat

——-to the jackal, and a jackal
——-is always flesh to the vulture

which is nothing more
than a puff of radiance

——-to the fire—the hungriest of all,
——-wildest with a vermilion appetite.

/

 

Özge Lena‘s poems have appeared in The London Magazine, Cambridge Poetry, The Trumpeter, The Gentian, The International Times, and elsewhere in various countries, including the USA, UK, Canada, Singapore, Spain, Iceland, Serbia, France, etc. Özge’s poetry was nominated both for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net, and shortlisted for the Oxford Brookes International Poetry Competition and the Ralph Angel Poetry Prize in 2021, then for The Plough Poetry Prize in 2023, and for the Black Cat Poetry Press Nature Prize in 2024. Her ecopoem “Undertaker” is forthcoming in the Convergence: Poetry on Environmental Impacts of War Anthology of Scarlet Tanager Books in the USA. Also, her poem “Here is a New Heart For You” was featured in the storefront of the Barnes & Noble bookstore in Dublin, California, for the National Poetry Month 2024.
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Twitter (X): @lenaozge
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