IN CONVERSATION WITH MOURNING
Whisper histories our
Grandmothers passed
like sugar cubes bitter and
sweet — tongue after
tongue so we would chant
louder — later —
Once upon wheat fields, color
of sun, once upon skies, color
of an infant’s breath —
Whispers of Babi Yar, pit
of slaughters kin to this year’s
landfill, kin to where my father
was spit from his mother’s depths —
where he said he was
Russian, to not have his own
tongue slit — dirt today where
Russia’s flames bury babies
who will never grow old —
Whispers of Odessa, once
for her song and colors, still now
for broken voices under moonrise
In a fist I’ve carried since
when, or then —
a grain of a cry the color
of iron — whispers
of thorns for gardens
that belong to none
but their interred,
and even so, their winter births—
*On Sept 29, 2023, Volodymir Zelensky visited the site of Babi Yar, on Ukranian soil—it was the 82nd anniversary of the massacre.
*
Margo Berdeshevsky, NYC born, writes in Paris. Her forthcoming book is: It Is Still Beautiful To Hear The Heart Beat from Salmon-Poetry. Just published: Kneel Said the Night (a hybrid book in half-notes) from Sundress Publications. Author of Before The Drought /Glass-Lyre-Press/finalist for National-Poetry-Series, Between Soul & Stone and But a Passage in Wilderness / Sheep-Meadow-Press, and Beautiful Soon Enough /FC2 /recipient of 1st Ronald Sukenick Innovative Fiction Award. Other honors: Grand prize for Thomas Merton Poetry of the Sacred Award, and the Robert H. Winner Award from Poetry Society of America. Widely published in international journals, kindly see her website: http://margoberdeshevsky.com
