"Nocturnus" by Milena Makani
Emily Wheeler | Love is a Verb
You live in a place long enough
and you’re allowed to call it home,
so I see my friends stretched
four homes thin, pressed
like pins into a map.
And my love, here, is as ripe
and rich as a peach,
filling all of me with the sticky
sweetness that spills over
everything I touch and say.
Now, when I speak of love,
it is that city and those girls
I think of.
It is only our tangled limbs,
unshaven brown leg hair
and grass-filled pockets living here.
I think of all of these things
trying to capture the world
in a snow globe
if only to keep it on a bookshelf—
to turn upside down
and right side up again,
to see the snowfall
and to see their laughter
frozen in the painted air.
We’ll live in these moments too,
humming songs to each other on the train.
Our bodies tingling and our fingers
all knotted,
one body ending right where another one begins,
wishing on one another’s fallen eyelashes
and holding our pinky promises tightly ensconced—
They are as much of me as I am of them
And when we all lay together
on my bare mattress,
curled like fish hooks
round each other's arms,
our heartbeats mimic one another's
our breath embracing the chill
in my barren flat—
and in the morning, our tears dance heavy with sunlight
as I board the plane home
And my eyes will watch, glassy,
Edinburgh fade to fog
as Roanoke stretches,
rippling across the land
But in everywhere I look,
at the mountains
rivers
clouds,
there are little hearts
trailing me home.
and you’re allowed to call it home,
so I see my friends stretched
four homes thin, pressed
like pins into a map.
And my love, here, is as ripe
and rich as a peach,
filling all of me with the sticky
sweetness that spills over
everything I touch and say.
Now, when I speak of love,
it is that city and those girls
I think of.
It is only our tangled limbs,
unshaven brown leg hair
and grass-filled pockets living here.
I think of all of these things
trying to capture the world
in a snow globe
if only to keep it on a bookshelf—
to turn upside down
and right side up again,
to see the snowfall
and to see their laughter
frozen in the painted air.
We’ll live in these moments too,
humming songs to each other on the train.
Our bodies tingling and our fingers
all knotted,
one body ending right where another one begins,
wishing on one another’s fallen eyelashes
and holding our pinky promises tightly ensconced—
They are as much of me as I am of them
And when we all lay together
on my bare mattress,
curled like fish hooks
round each other's arms,
our heartbeats mimic one another's
our breath embracing the chill
in my barren flat—
and in the morning, our tears dance heavy with sunlight
as I board the plane home
And my eyes will watch, glassy,
Edinburgh fade to fog
as Roanoke stretches,
rippling across the land
But in everywhere I look,
at the mountains
rivers
clouds,
there are little hearts
trailing me home.
Emily Wheeler (she/her) is originally from Virginia. Her work has been published by several magazines and institutions, including Blue River Review, Wingless Dreamer Publishing, From Arthur’s Seat, and The University of Edinburgh. In her free time, she enjoys making breakfast foods and wandering through nature.
Milena Makani, born in 1984 in Sofia, Bulgaria, is a German contemporary artist based in London, UK. Makani’s deeply psychological paintings depict inner landscapes characterized by layered textures, fluid forms and gradients. Employing acrylics, watercolours and inks on mineral stone sheets, she blends control and spontaneity through the interplay of organic process and manipulation. Makani lives with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome - a source of constant pain. Her works channel the mindfulness, gratitude and energy of her lived experience, as she investigates themes of resilience, serenity, joy, stoicism and fragility.
The German artist has exhibited her work in the UK, Bulgaria and Iceland and her paintings are featured internationally in various private collections.
The German artist has exhibited her work in the UK, Bulgaria and Iceland and her paintings are featured internationally in various private collections.
