Five Poems by Braina Carina

 

Weightless


Everything I fought to become
Dissolves into particles,
Scattering toward the cosmos.
And I let myself be carried away
Into another realm,
Where I hope
To find my place.


Smiling, feeling lighter
And lighter —
I rise beyond the weight
Of ground and gravity.
Saying goodbye,
Without looking down,
Grateful to my parents,
Who gave me material comfort,
Yet nothing for the heart.
Tears fall down my face.


Oh world, how cruel you have become,
To let a soul vanish in vain,
To leave someone
Without the desire
To hug a tree
In the middle
Of an Eastern European city.


Higher now, among the clouds,
Thoughts loosen their gravity.
My legs tremble with urgency,
Kicking faster,
As I swim through the cold air.
And I wonder —
Will something gentle
Finally find its way to me? 

The Shape of What Remains


I feel my father in my blood,
Yet my mother crawls out of me
From time to time —
Her pride,
Her hunger to be seen,
Her big love,
Yet aimed at no one.


Perhaps she has forgotten
How to love,
Or perhaps it ate her alive.


We are outgrowing grief,
Gold dripping from our eyes.
Tomorrow,
This harsh truth
Might not hurt as much.


I do not fear endings
As my father did.
I resemble my mother —
Pouring too much of myself
Into those already
Walking away.


Yet joy waits
On the far side
Of acceptance.
My mother and I,
Bound by his absence,
Leap from love to screams,
Yet still uncover,
Finding magic within,
My parents taught me kindness,
And I am meant
To carry it forward
Into every life I touch. 

The Geometry of Us


Standing beside you,
I feel your gaze
Piercing through me.


A chill travels my spine —
Everything the tarot promised
Quickening into life.


I poured far too much of myself
Into this fragile illusion.
There was never a triangle,
Only a straight line
Beginning with you
And ending with her.
Still,
I learned every card in a single night,
As if knowledge could confirm
What I already knew.


Some days
I almost grieve for myself;
Other days
I step back into my own light
And forget.



Inner Gramophone


One day,
Even flowers long
To slip from the sun,
If only for a moment.


So do I —
I want to loosen your name from me,
That broken record
Turning endlessly
On the hidden gramophone within.


I painted in colors
Far too bright
For what you ever felt,
A canvas I must destroy
With my own hand —
The same hand that refuses
To forget the touch
Of your delicate skin.


You never dared
To lift the brush.
And I was left chasing
What scattered,
A restless herd dissolving
Into distance.


If someone were to open my mind,
They would find your radiant face,
Your dizzying smile,
The moments we shared
When I felt alive,
Untouchably safe.


It seems that nowadays,

Feelings no longer matter.

Threads


I do not want to mend you
With fragile threads of gold,
But with the quiet substance
Of my being.


I do not wish to fix you,
For I myself am broken.
I only want you beside me,
To hold each other tightly
And run toward the world
To which we both belong

(I think).

 

 

 

Braina Carina is a 24 year old, first-year PhD student at the Victor Babeș University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Timisoara, Romania. In 2025, she published her debut poetry book, Reset Interior, which explores friendship, love, loss, and the quiet aftermath of transformative experiences. Her work has appeared in literary journals and anthologies. She has also received First Prize in a national poetry competition.