Victoria Mbabazi | Issue 39
truthfully I can only tell you what’s missing / if love is oxygen it’s done nothing but die here
The Siren in the Twelfth House
truthfully I can only tell you what’s missing if love is oxygen it’s done nothing but die here it’s yet to acclimate to my home’s density but truth can exist without intimacy I’ll try it out I won’t lie if you can guess what I’m feeling in a round of charades or hangman the rope tied around my neck and I know I shouldn’t make this a game but how else are you supposed to know I’m someone worth losing I’ve decided on Russian roulette you go first new rules aim straight all the ammunition boomerangs and when you shoot hope that bullet doesn’t come back to haunt you I’m sorry I know it’s hard to have fun while drowning but it’s not my fault you decided to follow a siren into the ocean I’m sorry —when you pulled the trigger the impact muffled no one heard the gun go off fire is timid underwater but I know you felt it I know you’re going to tell me it didn’t hurt you’re spilling out misery tinting the water red it’s my turn but we’re out of bullets and even if we weren’t I can’t see clearly your heart keeps getting between us
ELEMENT: WATER
The Siren imagines an ending during a storm
WASH
the sky is fractured by the approaching hurricane it paints the air a soft blue hardened by thundering harsh and apocalyptic the room wrestling with floating pages the aroma of coffee burning the singing knives hitting near empty plates declarations turning into haunting observations they make their way up our throats tell me you love me I thought endings foreshadowed you don’t have to die here you don’t mind you stand up resigned I’m the only one who’ll survive this hurricane the cracked windows still hoping you’ll tell me you love me
Victoria Mbabazi is a Pisces with an Aries Moon. Their first chapbook, chapbook, is available with Anstruther Press and their double chapbook Flip is available with Knife | Fork | Book. The Siren in the Twelfth House is their first full-length poetry collection. They live in Brooklyn, New York.
The Siren in the Twelfth House by Victoria Mbabazi Palimpsest Press, 2024
“Truthfully I can only tell you what’s missing” writes the heartbroken protagonist at the beginning of Victoria Mbabazi’s The Siren in the Twelfth House. But this isn’t a book that succumbs to grief. Mbabazi’s poems are siren songs, reclaiming love from pain, and rediscovering joy through the destruction and eventual rebuilding of astrological houses. Prepare to slow dance through this profound and powerful debut.
Support Send My Love to Anyone
Support Send My Love to Anyone by signing up for a monthly or yearly subscription, liking this post, or sharing it!
Big heartfelt thanks to all of the subscribers and contributors who make this project possible!
Connect
Bluesky | Instagram | Archive | Contributors | Subscribe | About SMLTA