Aileen Bassis
Disquietude
each day takes another bite of certainty melting into puddles clinging to the bottom of each hour- but you're no good at figuring out the odds—there may be cause and effect but does the checkbook ever need to balance? traffic never stops & a faithless river teems with boats & barges — flagrant jet skis bounce with abandon/ maybe all you need is a drink/ crack open the fridge to the wanton call of sparkling soda/ one regretful olive is rolling on a plate —you thought at least you have your body but that grows stranger too.Wait, I'm asking someone, anyone please, pull down the shades — keep it dark/ an open faucet is spilling curses & as for me, I'm waiting for quiet to stretch across my sheet.
Bio
Aileen Bassis is a visual artist and poet in Long Island City with a practice in book arts, printmaking, photography and installation. She's the author of two chapbooks, "The Other Side of the Mirror" (Unlikely Books) and "Advice for Travelers and other poems" (Black Sunflowers Press). Her collection, "Among Sinners and Saints" will be published in 2026 by Shanti Arts. She was awarded two poetry residencies to the Atlantic Center for the Arts, a fellowship in poetry to Yaddo Foundation, grants in literature from NYState Council on the Arts and the Queens Arts Fund.