A Series Of Minor Wounds Poem by Justyna Bargielska

A girl disappears in the underpass
escaping a man who cries after her.
When my earthly life comes to an end, she thinks,
I'll go to Italy and while away my days
squabbling with neighbors across the balcony, until then
I need to think small, I need to think: Alexandria,
a light seeped through lemon essence.
I said it once aloud on the bus.
Do they have caskets there big enough to fit
a bus and the rest of Greek lacrimosa jars? And the hawthorn
smelled beautiful. How finely do you have to crush me
to get the dye you're after?

Translation: Katarzyna Szuster