‘Ossifying Shadows’

Tom Gdisis is an award-winning photographer who gained extensive visual experience during a long career in broadcast television. Now retired, he is expanding his creative output through poetry, flash fiction, and visual art. His artwork will be featured on an upcoming cover of Beyond Words Magazine, Issue 65, and his writing appears in Fine Lines, Horror Tree, Reedsy, and AllPoetry.

Ossifying Shadows

From my home between twin concretes,
I watch the red pines slice the night like a knife.
Into the baked night, from my window,
I recite prayers to the raw graves.

The creak of aged wooden walls has enveloped my home,
Yet still, I read my prayers!
Shallow shadows have cloaked my cold rooms,
And through these ossifying shadows,
The woman at the window with white flowers watched
The concrete homes stacked one upon the other.

The garden’s loveliest blooming flowers—
The purple hyacinths, the carnations
Of the blue wall she never saw—
Piled up, one upon another.
From their homes encased in twin concretes, neighbors watched
The ossifying shadows piling up in their gardens.

Serenay Özkan is a Turkish poet and author whose work serves as a distinct voice in contemporary literature. Born October, 2004 in Istanbul, Özkan began writing poetry during her middle school years. She made her literary debut with the poetry collection Viata, published in 2019. Currently, she is pursuing her academic studies at the Istanbul University Faculty of Letters while also advancing her literary career. In November 2025, she published her short story collection, Farklı Bir Mehtap, published by the Yol Akademi Publishing Group. Her poetry and short stories have been featured in various national and international literary journals including The Arlington Literary Journal, Dominique Literary Magazine, Karıncafil Öykü Dergisi, and Daima Edebiyat Dergisi. Email: serenaayozkann@gmail.com.