Bio
Aaron Aquilina is an academic with the University of Malta's Department of English. His book 'The Ontology of Death' has been published with Bloomsbury (2023), and his work on poetry, prose, and literary theory has been published in various journals and edited collections. He has also published some poetry, with his latest poems appearing in the 'International Human Rights Arts Journal' and 'Stand' (2024). He is the founding general editor of 'ANTAE', an online journal of creative writing that has been active since 2013 (https://www.um.edu.mt/antae/).
Aaron Aquilina
Burial At Sea
was on offer, a plain poster
listing the options of the funeral parlour
on a quiet street, no more
than a few yards away from the shore.
Burial at sea... it evokes chains of the underworld,
scenes of Vikings, and Atlantis.
Aren't we all buried in the depths,
even now, as we submerge and suppress,
drown under pressure?
No, something is different, down there,
in darkness.
I try to understand. I sit here,
dry as life,
shaking out thoughts like dandruff.
Imagine bubbles rising from far down
as people dissolve into ink.