Denouement

Alisa Khansuko
→EFS 2029

Denouement (day-noo-MOHN): A literary term to describe the resolution of a plot.

Denouement (day-noo-MOHN): Its syllables running down a hill, almost
touching the ground as the television static
flickers, and
cuts off.

Denouement (day-noo-MOHN): The point from which lovers remain unrequited and the play comes to an end. The curtains are drawn. The audience applauds.

Denouement (day-noo-MOHN): The moment when you realize you might not see someone again. And this time will be the last time you’ll ever meet
face to face. The realisation
hits you in the middle of a conversation
as you zone out for half a second …
half a second …

half a second where
a windmill of memories rush in and out of your mind,
running to catch up with an accelerating train,
running along it
Separated by this windmill, standing on either side glancing back
and forth at one another—
watching the sails spin, fluttering the encompassing wind as you almost
slip away from the ground
wishing you could
prolong
the moment before it becomes
a reverie,
before I’m snapped back to the moment of the present
before my shirt gets caught in the ever-spinning sails, you step back into the dark edge of my memory
before everything goes to black
before I can pause your steps, rewind it back in time
you walk backwards, step into the light
once more
before … you realise …
that our denouement will end in dense snow-covered memories
in half forgotten conversations—
unending replays…

Help me recall these memories buried deep in dense snow,
somewhere in the ice I know they will persevere,
before it all melts.
Before the dust engulfs my mind
before the roads turn back into empty pavements, and nothing remains.

Alisa Khansuko wants to see snow again.