03/08/2020
Confinement #6
He gets inside her like a hand in ice. No frenzy, just a miserable halo; that’ s all. They have been living together for seven years, same age, different life. They had a lovely summertime, that’s what they keep telling everyone. They took pictures, many pictures. They weren’t thinking about what winter would bring. He gets inside her like a guitar with broken strings. A note out of tune. They meet friends, they go on excursions; habit is their enemy, it claims them. Some people say, “another year without making it.” They are thinking of what color to paint the small room, if the baby ever comes; they keep postponing it. He observes his disproportionate shadow on the wall as he gets inside her like a wheel hitting on a stone. Τhe fact that they have to stay in the house together for so many days, makes her feel heaviness on her chest. Mutual arrangements, similar footsteps, a strange surprise as she sees him coming out of the bathroom. Bewilderment when he observes her frying fish. He gets inside her with a whip-like breath. First, he hits himself, then they share the pain, but they never confess it. Each one keeps their share of fear to themselves. Sometimes, she pictures herself as a broken cup whose shattered pieces were thrown away. When he gets out of her, hoping that this time the “fruit” will be successful, she dresses herself mechanically, she washes her face, she wipes the doldrums away from her eyes, she counts on her fingers the days she’s been locked in home as well as the days she’ s been further inside and she loses count.
Dionisis Marinos
Translation: Chara Drakou
Editing: Vasiliki Misiou, Kleopatra Elaiotriviari, Maria Filippou
Photo: Sylvia Kouveli http://sylviakouveli.com/
