Niina Pollari

I SPEND THE DAY NOT SPEAKING

It feels good
Like I found a place
Where nothing resonates

A little space
Could improve me

Something you must know
Is that I am hesitating

It has to do
With the little space I have
In my system like a box
With an echo

In a horror movie
If somebody’s hiding
The sound of their breathing
Always gives them up

So remember not to breathe

I turn on private browsing to watch a video
Of polyphonic overtone singing
The singer smiles the whole time
As sound oozes out of her

What is it like to know
You have an audience

If I tap my fingers to my face
Then behind the bone

The sinus trembles like a private emptiness

NIINA POLLARI is a writer and translator in Brooklyn, New York, and sometimes around Asheville, North Carolina. She is the author of the poetry collection Dead Horse (Birds, LLC) and co-author of the split chapbook Total Mood Killer (Tiger Bee Press).