Moriana:
where they are from
their mothers’s shadow
is a sheet of tracing paper
on either translucent side
a mother and a daughter
can neither be separated
nor look at each other. *
Argia:
where she is from
mothers have no warmth
no smiles no skin
nothing that makes
them seem mothers
except alabaster wombs
like deserted cities.
Desideria:
where he is from
mothers are silent
daughters silenced
streets have eyes
blinking restlessly
twisted burst pipes
imploring the ashen sky.
Ersilia:
where we are from
mothers weave for redemption
intricate works of abandon
that hold cracks in time
sunrays for nothing
shapeless vanishing
refugees’ memories.
Armilla and Zora:
where I am from
daughters have more
white hairs than mothers
who is unfinished
who demolished
who is unforgettable
because invisible?
* Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities, 1972.
(Sabine Huynh, published in The Last Stanza – An anthology of poems from Tel Aviv)