DILA TOPLUSOY GÜNAY
Strings 1
‘dreams jangling with lost connections’
March 2024
Imagining Myself as a Mountain Hare in the Age of the Anthropocene
inspired by 'Searching for Snow Hares' (2023), a short film by Yvonne Reddick and Aleks Domanski
Winter came and my coat turned
white as usual, to match the snow
that is nowhere to be found.
The ptarmigans look
as baffled as I do.
I wonder if their hearts beat
as fast as mine
at the idea of being spotted
in the brown and barren hills
and being totally exposed
and hunted
and killed
by those who have never paused
to remind themselves that the blood
running through our veins
is the same colour
as theirs.
Instructions on How to Get an Angel's Attention
inspired by 'How to Meet an Angel' (2003) by Ilya and Emilia Kabakov
Wait until the month of Janus, the Roman god of beginnings, begins.
Find a 4.3 metre ladder and carry it to the garden
after 11pm, on the night of the full moon.
Keep your eyes peeled on the Wolf
Moon while making sure you
take a step every 3.4 seconds.
When you reach
the top,
tell yourself that
no effort goes to waste, while
realizing that these instructions don't
make any sense. The angel will notice you
even if you are on a dead-end road to rock bottom, in full darkness.
DILA TOPLUSOY GÜNAY is an Istanbul-born poet whose work has appeared or is forthcoming in CERASUS, Skylight 47, t’ART, Confluence Medway, La Piccioletta Barca, Sky Island Journal, The Closed Eye Open, Briefly Zine, Needle Poetry, Amethyst Review, and elsewhere. She is a content editor at ARCCA Magazine and holds a first-class honours degree from University of the Arts London. You can find her on Instagram as @dilaquis.
