Vincent van Gogh, Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear, 1889
Lucy Olsman (she/her) is a 24 year old Dutch student of MA Creative Writing at UCC. She has also completed her English Literature master in Groningen in the Netherlands. Her work has appeared in Motley Magazine, Double Dutch, and, forthcoming, Abyss Literary Magazine, Still Here, the Reprise, and House of Arcanum. She is currently based in Ireland, and is finishing up her novel Little Princess.
Click here for her guest article with us about the poet Jonathan Sijl, who also happens to have a poem published in this issue! Cheers :)
On Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear
They thought it was over,
and so did you.
Your kaleidoscope eyes
covered in a sheen of frenzy,
light blue liquid in pools that were
nearly drained of their life.
You slowly get rid of the
burdens of the flesh, one by one —
dripping, oozing red life —
what will you tear off next?
You’re thinking about it,
I can tell.
Yours is no look of defeat at all.
Your ear was a trophy,
something to be held in the air,
triumphantly,
a signal of giving life another go
and starting your final lap.
Your hat sits on your head
as if nothing were missing at all.
They thought it was over,
but you’re only just warming up.
You’re wrapped against the winter wind
that blows through the open door.
So tear your eyes away from that mirror,
that yellow cage of bad dreams,
and show us
what only a man with one ear can see.