Talaria 

I

Then he fitted me with talaria,
:: Mercury’s sandals,
–	straps made of iron and copper,
rust dispersing quietly over wings.

Wings made from 
fragments of small birds
 – their heads,
bones, feathers, severed aimlessly 

:: faint morning whistling and songs,
ruptured,
trickling, amid drops of blood, over my ankles. 

As I moved.

But what is movement made of? 


II

I have walked over the sands
of light,
doorsteps of frontiers
:: and the wings at my heels
have gone quiet,
folded over my toes.

I know this valley well::
I am at the mercy of uplifting winds.

I am at the mercy of words. 

Which message was I meant to bring, 
which frieze spilling over the edges of a temple?

Numbness – a story to be told
from A to Z: the brevity of our feelings.

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Irina Moga is a Canadian poet, member of the Writers’ Union of Canada (TWUC). Her book “Sea Glass Circe” was selected for an official launch as part of the 2020 Toronto LitUp!, Toronto International Festival of Authors (TIFA). Her latest poetry book, written in French, “Variations sans palais,” was published with Éditions L’Harmattan (France) in 2020. Irina’s work has appeared in literary magazines such as: “Canadian Literature,” “carte-blanche,” “PRISM International” online, “Foreign Literary Journal,” “Poetry Quarterly,” “Lettres Capitales,” and elsewhere.

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