This piece was originally published in Quarto’s 2022 Spring Print.
Illustration by Tomiris Tatisheva
after La Fornarina
Fond of black cats
bread loaves perfectly
circular the music of
windows flinging
open the inside
of oysters her mother’s
neck dancing her
fingers he
offers a pearl asks
may i her gaze arresting
the shape of his
palm
sì baby, certo she laughs now
cheeks exceptionally
flushed
right hand touching
her left breast,
he reaches for the brush —
wait
she snaps the
pearl winks grazie
fixes her hair folds
the veil, lips beach up
and there it is:
the myrtle bush engulfing
her figure full
flesh chiaroscuro sky
the skin of plums
pearl
in her hair, whatever she’s
looking at must be
splendid.
Panagiota Stoltidou divides her time between Thessaloniki and Berlin. At Columbia University, she is a visiting exchange student majoring in Comparative Literature and Linguistics. She enjoys translating poetry and reading Peter Bradshaw's film reviews.