We struggle in transmission, our tendril openm
to receive I think he said the question
I’m still asking is how
do we become a self any
self yes we/a but also I/this peeking through or
the tendrils curl up world-
burned no actually
I don’t care about it, self, how
do you become a soul claim
clamoring itself
excerpt from Memory Rehearsal (City Lights, May 2026)
Eleni Sikelianos is the author of three hybrid works of ancestral encounter, most recently Memory Rehearsal, and 10 books of poetry (most recently Your Kingdom, Coffee House Press). Penelope Massouri photo.