Raimonda Šūmakarienė

poet • writer

About

Raimonda Šūmakarienė is a Lithuanian poet and writer based in Vilnius.Her work explores memory, intimacy, identity, silence, and the inner life. She writes in Lithuanian, with her work translated into Spanish and English.She is the creator of UPÉ po oda, an independent literary project.

SELECTED POETRY

an old woman
has lived in me since childhoodshe wants no noise
no hurryonly silenceonly a slow morning by the window
hands
with nothing left to prove
eyes
that no longer search for themselves in othersi have always longed for the time
when a person grows quiet
not from sadness
but from understandingi waitfor a rocking chair
and a gaze into the distancefor gray hair
and the words of this poem
upon my facefor what awaits the soul
when the body finally grows tired
of being earth

***when she stops standing across from herself,
she sits down beside herselfshe hears
what her name sounds like
when no one calls ithow her body breathes
when she is alone with herself,
how the gazes of others
slide off her.something in her falls silent
and a knowing fills her
that nothing needs changing,
fixing, or improvingshe no longer searches
for a reason
to love herselfshe loves.like hungry earth —
drinking in
all the rainand in her own presence
she no longer knows lackonly herself —
breathing
her own being.

***what if tomorrow you woke
and remembered nothing —
who would you be?would you still be you —
or only a body carrying a name
it does not recognize?if memory fell silent,
your own would lose their name,
a stranger — their distance.and what if the one you call your own today
passed by,
one among all the others —would you turn around?

Contact

For publications, collaborations, and literary inquiries:[email protected]Instagram · Lithuanian @upe.po.oda
Instagram · Spanish @upe.bajo.la.piel

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