2018 / poetry / author

LIANNA SCHREIBER

 

EDELWEISS
…

I curl a finger on the strange petals —
reminiscent of grandmother’s laces, the macrame
she wove with deft, withered fingers,
spooling out shapes phantasmagorical, like fairies
and the strangest of the world’s beasts;

then —
I dip my thumb in the golden center and come away
bearing honey, the scent of it distinctly alpine;
it says a lot about us, choosing this borrowed bloom
as our signet.

as a child, I saw so many other flowers;
and so the wonder grew within me — why this one?
why, when there are forests full of lilac,
when quince hangs heavy every May, come autumn
wilting into the queenliest of all fruits?

then —
it dawned upon me: as a nation, we have always been
ashamed of our heritage, or at least of the parts
which were deemed unseemly — the Eastern blood,
the Slavic fire.


we bought the country kings of German blood;
of course we also bought their seal.

 
 

…

LIANNA SCHREIBER is a Romanian author. A self-described “New Romantic”, her work mostly concerns itself with gods, monsters, and human nature as it is caught between the sacred and the profane — all wrapped up in an overabundance of floral imagery.

WHERE TO FIND LIANNA SCHREIBER: TUMBLR | INSTAGRAM

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POETS IN MORSE CODE explores the role of interpretation in storytelling. By incorporating Morse Code, one of the most widely used and recognized ciphers in existence, Saiterux juxtaposes lines of poetry against photographs and technical illustrations of flora & fauna from the early days of scientific exploration. Through the text and image pairings, the illustrations lean into the abstract elements of a story, recognizing that storytelling depends on the written word as well as the imagination, experiences, and knowledge each reader brings to the occasion. More from Saiterux