Digital Poetics 2.7 Selections from Now, Voyager by Gizem Okulu
The moon keeps changing
where the horizon is
An occupied sky
a pile of imposters
~~
Your separation from yourself
this high
to finally feel
the sun on your face
suspended there
you crash-landed
onto the moon
a sacrifice in
outer space.
(For my throbbing eye means
that I will travel
far away.)
All’s well that begins well!
~~
You refused sleep
in order to stay awake
with the ghosts.
Who taught you
the coordinates
of objects.
Pinpointed natural
disasters.
The fires and
earthquakes
of Smyrna
where the Aegean
does not have hold
no regime can
take hold of space heart!
~~
(Imposed layers on selves
through the opening of masks.)
Only alive by its nostalgia, secret searches out
empire, tiny gleaming objects in the distance
I thought you were there, watching it sink.
~~
Worksite here
Worksite there
Residential apartment complex
here
A shopping mall right here
and here
and here
here and here
It did not take long
the reconstruct-
ion of the moon
skinning its skin
juicing its meat
for a loneliness that precedes
our cosmic intake
(Voyager’s lips stuck together
in this Moonland forsaken.)
COSMONAUTS OF THE WORLD - UNITE!
~~
What form
do you want to see
your future in?
In the world
there is nobody asleep
nobody.
~~
Space march:
(Tadada tadada tadada ta
tadada tadada tadada ta
tadada tadada tadada ta
tadada tadada tadada ta
tadada tadada tadada ta
tadada tadada tadada ta
Sad step, forward!)
~~
Is the universe a thing
that falls at full speed
you’re found guilty
in the sea of void
do nothing just wait
it’s there the sun but
it’s not going to save you
the trees are not shadowing you
they’re perhaps more real
which means loyal caring for your memories
but all my disasters are my disasters
if that brings you solace.
(Bodies of thick cloud
surrounding the cell
you and I have made
so that everyone’s fakery
comes in here.)
*
Gizem Okulu is the author of Too Sliced for Landing (Materials, 2017 (2nd printing: 2018)), Master Island (Tipped Press, 2018), and most recently Now, Voyager (Veer Books, 2021). She lives in London.
*
The moral right of the author has been asserted. However, the Hythe is an open-access journal and we welcome the use of all materials on it for educational and creative workshop purposes.
