It was Yolkov who bought Hanna's ticket on the overnight flight from Warsaw to JFK. Hair streaked with gray, she wore the blue dress purchased on sale for eighteen dollars. "Better to fly later and ... [+]
He doesn't understand, that's ok.
I pull out a clump of feathers.
It's not about the pain at all, it's about what it makes.
He thinks for a moment, asks me this, now:
Why turn myself into a monster?
I do not answer, plucking white feather after white feather.
It hurts, but so is the action of uncovering.
I don't know if it's worth it, sometimes,
but I can't do anything else.
Bound to the unmaking, the remolding.
I can't do anything else.
I tell him:
All you see is the fruit rotting.
He says he does not understand.
The fruit fermenting, I clarify.
Not the jam, just the crushing.
Not the creation. Not the wine.
And to think,
Jesus only started with water.