Sarp Sozdinler
Sarp Sozdinler, a Turkish writer & poet, has been published in Electric Literature, Kenyon Review, Masters Review, Trampset, JMWW, and Normal School, among other journals. Their work has been selected or nominated for anthologies including the Pushcart Prize, Best Small Fictions, and Wigleaf Top 50. They are currently working on their first novel in Philadelphia and Amsterdam
Transubstantiation, or: dating in two languages
When he says you’re intoxicating / I forget the word for thirst / and how it curled under my tongue in three dialects / I say thank you in the wrong tense / but he smiles like I meant it / and maybe I did / I wore my good earrings / the gold ones my aunt smuggled in her bra across a border / for nights just like this / where sweat tastes like memory / and we pretend the world is soft / and forgiving / I dip my bread in olive oil like a sacrament / sprinkle za’atar like I’m still someone’s daughter / he asks what it is / and I give him the English / because the Turkish might lodge in his throat / like a threat / like a name / when the check comes I offer to split it / he says I’ve got this / and for a second / I believe in something as simple as generosity / instead of debt / I don’t tell him my full name / just the one that fits in his mouth without apology / after we kiss, he says you taste like something old / and I think—yes / like an orchard in exile / like water drawn from a well that forgot its source / I leave before sunrise / not because I don’t want more / but because I do / and that’s the kind of wanting / that unspools you / like prayer beads / like a good migration story / like a body with no name / just rhythm
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Image by Vildan Hanne Doğan from Pexels
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