Alisa Velaj
The Heads Museum is her ultimate thought
every time she takes her children to the Azure Aquarium.
They will ask so many questions about the fishes,
about the corals the guide puts in their hands,
one enigma after another in each aquarium section,
that she will leave the place for a while
and, once again, think back of the Heads Museum…
The yearly ticket to this exploration is so cheap,
it’s so cheap to afford the aquatic wonders,
to dive into worlds unbeknown to the eye,
to touch with senses creatures from every sea and ocean!
It’s so affordable to sniff infinity
as it is impossible to work for immortality…
Her thoughts ebb in dialogues with her last boyfriend
who pledged his mind-boggling wealth as surety
for his own head after death…
She gets lost after the electric fishes,
while fantasizing how one of their sparks
could set aflame the whole aquarium
along with all of the human heads
and the yearly tickets in their wallets…
About Author/ Alisa Velaj was born in Albania, in 1982. She holds a Ph.D. in Albanian Language and Literature, which she has been teaching as wordpress subjects at university level, while writing poetry, prose, essays, articles, and research studies. Velaj was shortlisted for the annual international Erbacce-Press Poetry Award in UK in June 2014. Her work has been published in over 100 international online forums, printed magazines and anthologies across many countries (USA, UK, Sweden, Australia, Israel, India). Alisa earned an Artist-in-Residence Scholarship in February 2019 and attended the AIR Litteratur Västra Götaland Program in Villa Martinson, Jonsered, Sweden. In 2020, she won The National Prize in Poetry, awarded by the Albanian Ministry of Culture.
