“Dopo Mezzonatte” by Marina Kazakova

Dopo mezzanotte!

Dopo, dopo!

The door pops open,

out of the dust 

the ocean

unfolds

under the ropewalker’s 

high gloss 

black shoes.

He floats

among the buoyant atoms-

the iron nerves of muscled Brussels,

silenzio 

fulfils The Place Royal –

no traffic, 

only the cinema of

sinking smiles

of women,

oh, excuse me, 

of “things” 

behind the glass windows,

brought to the citadelle

of cultures,

oh sorry,

to the “Grand Market” 

to sell the bodies –

the live sculptures

of Gare du Nord.

The Captives, 

in search of lost hopes,

observed by some,

ignored by all, 

the poultry

living decades of years 

under 

the artificial lights, 

in high temperatures

of pre-Renaissance 

“battery cages”,

not far from new headquarters 

of Europa –

a gorgeous

post-modern

Space Egg,

built up of

thousands of windows, 

recycled 

and brought from every member state –

a cleaner’s nightmare,

a symbol 

of new life,

the victory of light –

Buon Giorno!

The door gets closed,

the ropewalker

becomes a cock 

sitting among

the poultry, 

eating his business lunch…

Vivo,

vivo mezzo giorno!

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Marina Kazakova (b. Gorky, Russia, 1983) is a Russian-born Belgium-based poet. Her literature works deal to a large degree with confrontation with the past and explore the challenges posed both by memory and grief. Published internationally in magazines and journals (Three Rooms Press “Maintenant”, “Great Weather for Media…”, “Crannog”, “Duck Lake Books”, “Writing in a Woman’s Voice”), Marina is a frequent performer, she has been shortlisted at various international poetry festivals and art events. Marina holds Master’s degrees in Public Relations and Transmedia. Currently, she is the Communications Officer at Victim Support Europe (Brussels) and working on her practice-based PhD in Arts at Luca School of Arts (KULeuven).