Unnatural Spring Water

written by Nazli Karabiyikoglu

Do you know what’s very wrong when death is so near? Looking at the mirror.

Barks and shouts and other sounds of daily life coming in from the window make me flinch. What scares me the most is the horizon, where the cloudy sky meets the steppes afar. I think about the streets that I’m about to head out to, to let my body go. This part of the city, where piles of trash fill the sidewalks and neighborhoods are stuffed together, hasn’t welcomed winter yet. Heating stoves aren’t lit, people are still merely chilly.

Another Fall in Ephesus

written by Nazli Karabiyikoglu

Her eyes gazed over the furthest corner of the farm, from the pit she dug amongst dead olive tree trunks. Silent as a dolmen, she was waiting to hear the sound of the earth. Only then she would have dug deep enough. She was aiming for a depth three times the size of a person standing up. In the meantime, she envisioned herself as a beaten Ionian commander whose city had fallen into the hands of her enemy. Her arrows broken, not just against her adversary, but against life. Remaining parts of her cape swung with the wind, her feet and sword covered with blood…