Four poems
1
black sky falls on white skin
flowers without a grave are like crickets without a chirp
skin without pain stretched on the string of silence
only corpses and trees are patient
cast-iron fingers of the night are attached to the temple
snow-white skin competes with the decomposition of the dead
graves tell nothing
as if death does
not exist
2
birds do not believe in the sky hanging in the ceiling
chandelier warms with false heat
days and nights change
the dead laugh at life
and birds without wings and without trees scatter all over the world
3
take off your pants says the pale boy and sheds his skin
he pounces on you like a cheetah on another predator
20 minutes later the boy is lying on the couch outside the rented apartment
20 minutes later when you finished on your face
and dissolved the boy woke up with milk on his lips in an empty apartment
of the universe where you are no more
4
roses pretend to be thorns so that no one opens and tears their petals
parents sew a dress for their daughters from torn vaginas
grass grows around like emptiness
suicidal people try to change something
but nothing changes
© Mykyta Ryzhykh
Mykyta Ryzhykh is from Ukraine, now lives in Tromsø, Norway. Mykyta was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2023 and 2024, and has been published many times in literary magazines in Ukrainian and English: Tipton Poetry Journal, Stone Poetry Journal, Neologism Poetry Journal, Shot Glass Journal, QLRS, The Crank, Chronogram, Monterey Poetry Review, Five Fleas Itchy Poetry, and many others.
The Loch Raven Review 