Rana Samé - the last breath

From the Press:

This piece stands apart from what we typically review because it doesn't ask to engage with language alone. The Last Breath is a fully integrated multimedia work in which poem and image function as a single argument, each intensifying the other rather than competing for attention.

Visually, the artwork establishes the emotional thesis before the poem is read. We witness a charred tree with smoke rising into a fracture—a set of lungs in a ribcage bursting apart.

The poem itself moves into a clear arc that mirrors the visual collapse. Beginning with immersion and a sense of belonging with sounds and motion layered carefully. Samé places the reader inside a living system that feels rhythmic, communal, and breathable. As the poem takes a turn, it is abrupt but not surprising.

There is a shift from observation to identification. No longer a distant witness to environmental destruction; instead, becoming entangled in it. This is not simply a cry of despair, but an acknowledgement that ecological harm reshapes human identity as well.

Combined, the poem and artwork form a closed loop of meaning. The image gives the poem a body; the poem gives the image a voice. Neither would land as forcefully without the other. Sitting with this poem is uncomfortable, but it serves as both elegy and warning. It understands that environmental grief is not abstract—it's intimate, suffocating, and shared with us all.

About the Author:

Rana Samé is an emerging writer working in poetry and short prose. His writing explores the fragile relationship between humanity and the natural world, focusing on environmental loss, silence, and the emotional weight of witnessing destruction without the power to intervene. Rather than making overt claims, his work often unfolds through observation, allowing atmosphere and imagery to carry meaning.
Rooted in reflective narration, Rana’s pieces move through landscapes in crisis—polluted oceans, burning forests, fading ecosystems—where beauty and devastation exist side by side. These spaces function not only as settings, but as emotional and ethical terrains that shape the speaker’s inner life. His writing frequently positions the self as a witness: drifting, breathing, watching, and slowly realizing its own implication in what is being lost.
Influenced by ecological awareness, symbolic minimalism, and introspective literary traditions, Rana’s work blurs the boundary between inner experience and external collapse. Silence, stillness, and restraint play a central role in his style, reflecting a belief that quiet moments can hold deep emotional and moral force. His language favors suggestion over declaration, trusting readers to sit with uncertainty rather than be guided toward resolution.
As a writer still developing his voice, Rana embraces struggle as part of the creative process. The difficulty of crafting thoughtful work is present in his practice, yet within that difficulty emerge moments of clarity and resonance. He is currently experimenting across forms, building a body of poetry and short prose that traces a movement from wonder to grief, and from silence to awareness.
Through his writing, Rana hopes to offer readers a space of recognition—an encounter with what is beautiful, broken, and quietly slipping away.

He can be found on Instagram at the username @_rana.samee