By Claudia Serea
Let’s invent useless things,
the ultimate freedom.
I’ll make marble eggs,
headless dolls,
and stringless violins.
I’ll write poems
that don’t put food on the table
with words that no one understands:
mailpill,
painstain,
wheelfence.
I’ll buy dream bags
and wrinkles with pockets
and shepherd on 5th Avenue
a camelostrich herd.
Or is it a gaggle
of ostrichcamels?
I’ll chain the night and day
to the sidewalk
and feed them live
pigeonmice.
Around me, the world tilts, rocks, spills,
burns, crashes, cooks,
dies, laughs, cries.
And I plant thunderseeds,
steep tea in a wooden tea pot,
and hold my marble egg carefully
like a mother cat
carrying her newborn kitten
in her mouth.
The Importance of Arts, Culture & The Creative Process
Coming from Romania, I feel fortunate to be in the United States and share my poems in English with the artists here. Who knew something like this could happen? I never thought I would get here in the first place. We get to write and express ourselves, and that is thrilling to me. I am very grateful for that. In turn, we must fight to open doors for others and not create in a vacuum. There are countless artists and poets who live under oppressive regimes and don’t get this chance. We need to raise our voices and help them in any way we can. It’s an uphill battle, but I have faith we can contribute to the change.
What was the inspiration for your creative work?
This poem is part of a series of ekphrastic responses in my collaboration with visual artist Maria Haro. You can see more of our collaborations here: https://www.instagram.com/twoxism/ Our book "Twoxism" was published in 2018 by 8th House Publishing in Montreal, Canada. https://shop.8thhousepublishing.com/73-twoxism-by-claudia-serea-maria-haro.html?srsltid=AfmBOoraePX8i8rcZvIztGs0Yg4wacDypz_ZKzmAMnDjHW9ngb9KfIDM
Tell us something about the natural world that you love and don’t wish to lose. What are your thoughts on the kind of world we are leaving for the next generation?
I write because I believe I have something to say: my experience growing up behind the Iron Curtain, my immigration story, and the fact that I am constantly moving between two languages and cultures, not fitting perfectly in either of them. I also find inspiration everywhere around me, on New York City streets, in everyday life. I don't have to make up almost anything, just type what I see really fast.
