ARIZONA, CY
OWK PRESS – March 2024
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Arizona, CY is a collaboration between poet Marilena Zackheos and photographer Nicos Philippou. It forms connections between the island of Cyprus and the Southwestern US state of Arizona through original poems and instant photographs that re-envision prevalent perceptions of Cyprus’s physical and social spaces.
The poetry draws from real-life interethnic conflict, bloodshed, exploitation of and violence against women, as well as narratives of disease and addiction. Stories of trauma, hate, and pain are articulated via an empathetic link between similarly lived experiences and through affective intimate moments. In turn, the imagery echoes the physical landscape of Arizona in an uncanny way, inviting the viewer to consider Cyprus as an “Other” space.
Moreover, Arizona, CY produces an alternate reading of place, culture, and society, highlighting resilience in hard conditions, creative adaptability, environmental care, and empathy.
OWK PRESS – March 2024
Arizona, CY is a collaboration between poet Marilena Zackheos and photographer Nicos Philippou. It forms connections between the island of Cyprus and the Southwestern US state of Arizona through original poems and instant photographs that re-envision prevalent perceptions of Cyprus’s physical and social spaces.
The poetry draws from real-life interethnic conflict, bloodshed, exploitation of and violence against women, as well as narratives of disease and addiction. Stories of trauma, hate, and pain are articulated via an empathetic link between similarly lived experiences and through affective intimate moments. In turn, the imagery echoes the physical landscape of Arizona in an uncanny way, inviting the viewer to consider Cyprus as an “Other” space.
Moreover, Arizona, CY produces an alternate reading of place, culture, and society, highlighting resilience in hard conditions, creative adaptability, environmental care, and empathy.
FROM ARIZONA, CY
After the Raid // listen
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Three of us were taken prisoners.
They mounted us on their horses
and hid us away
in a nearby underground chamber.
They stripped us of our clothes,
dragged us by the hair
in the dirt,
beat us with sticks,
knifed designs of their whim in our flesh.
Every man took turns for his amusement.
They made us watch each other.
So they could watch.
Then we were brought out of the chamber.
For the art of war, they scalped our braids off.
Then they impaled us.
One over the other,
finally let to rest.
We have taken
root in this place and we have grown wild.
After the Raid // listen
Three of us were taken prisoners.
They mounted us on their horses
and hid us away
in a nearby underground chamber.
They stripped us of our clothes,
dragged us by the hair
in the dirt,
beat us with sticks,
knifed designs of their whim in our flesh.
Every man took turns for his amusement.
They made us watch each other.
So they could watch.
Then we were brought out of the chamber.
For the art of war, they scalped our braids off.
Then they impaled us.
One over the other,
finally let to rest.
We have taken
root in this place and we have grown wild.
Read more poems at:
Cathexis Northwest Press, Portland, Oregon, U.S.A.
Published on: 2019, October
The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature in Poetry, Washington, North Carolina, U.S.A. Published on: 2019, August