In this room, sunlight is rare
red stars blink more frequent
than my eyes

the moon curves her hips,
swaying in a corner above
lazy-looking clouds

I am on my bed,
a pile of dried rose petals
enchanting singsongs

the cage is infested by grape vines
the berries are, however,
acrid

I uproot my legs and plant
myself date palms
my skin is therefore, olive

the cage is of brass and copper rods—
it electrifies
my golden and azure feathers

I am a Nusantara phoenix,
wingless, flameless
dreamless

I can fly, but only in circles
smaller and smaller
circles

my tears harden into chunks of ice
then melt into
smoky ashes

featherless,
I burrow into the dirt
like a skinless snake

“Kraaangzzr!”—a supernova of light
destroys the smaller
and smaller cages.

ISMIM PUTERA (he/him) is a poet and writer from Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo. He is the author of the poetry chapbook "Tide of Time" (Mug and Paper Publishing, 2021). His works have appeared in many online literary journals and forthcoming in Lyric: Anthology of Speculative Poems (Paper Djinn Publishing), A Thousand Crane Poetry Anthology and Be Me: Lgbtq+ Anthology of Stories of Belonging.