Published in / Opublikowane w: Resistance. Voices of Exiled Writers
edited by / pod redakcją Jennifer Langer
Palewell Press
Date of publication / Data publikacji: 2020
A FRIENDLY FISHMONGER IN THE HARBOUR A friendly fishmonger in the harbour suddenly spews TV-hatred as acrid and thick as toilet bleach. His fish spoils faster. I go vegan. People are lighter in the streets, ready for flight. There is no looking each other in the eye. Dense fear mutes the tongues of other languages. And then there is the “oh, we like your lot, it’s the others…” I can still see the coast of France when the air is clear.
ROWAN I know you. I know you so well. And yet… Jarzębina czerwona, your red berries – jarred conserves, strung necklaces or songs. You were always so very cheerful. But in this country you are not a children’s tree but witches’. Your smoke – druids’ telephone line to the nether world. Your wood – a shield against lightning and thunder- storm. Your whisper in the harbour – its armour. And I don’t know you.