We are stretching towards each other,
words tangling. The words can’t always
be torn apart. Sometimes you
are ти. Sometimes we touch.
Two languages grow close
to one another. They take
the form of plants, vines
intertwining, the leaves of letters.
What we have in the end
is a collage. I long for the English,
but what we have is a weaving,
the Ukrainian peeking through.
The poem I recite
has the melody of the Ukrainian
behind it as I braid a child’s hair,
one piece over the other
until they can’t be undone.
Olena Jennings is the author of the poetry collection The Age of Secrets and the novel Temporary Shelter. She is a translator of collections by Ukrainian poets Kateryna Kalytko (together with Oksana Lutsyshyna), Iryna Shuvalova (together with the author), Vasyl Makhno, and Yuliya Musakovska (together with the author).
