Sophia Argyris
Every moment I’m rehearsing escape.
Our whole species is thinking it,
considering the possibility of life
on better planets. I’ve learnt to blend
the senses; looking is touching, hearing
is taste. I know when you’re watching
and move in more serpentine ways.
I say This is fun let’s keep dancing,
while in another city someone
is fighting a fascist and in a small
quiet place someone’s starving in protest.
Look up, there’s a ceiling not far enough
above our heads. It presses down as if we
were a button. Detonation now set.
Timer descending. I’m rehearsing
how feral I’ll be next time I get
into an ocean somewhere cold.
It’s a lie I like to tell myself
that I’ll be better, less controlled,
less a container for repressed emotions.
I walked here under a broken umbrella.
I miss half-believing this will all turn out well.
Sophia Argyris is of British-Greek origin. Her work has appeared in Mslexia, Poetry Ireland Review, Poetry London, and been placed in the Ledbury Prize and shortlisted for the Bridport Prize. Her pamphlets are Heronless (Palewell Press) and Blood Tundra, forthcoming with Broken Sleep in October 2026.
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