Kapka Kassabova
Two poems from 'The Immigrant Cycle'
Two poems from 'The Immigrant Cycle'
Safe in the Pacific
After the long day
My father locks the doors
The windows
The blinds on the windows
He locks out the voice of the wind
The question of yesterday
My mother turns off every light
In every room, in every cupboard
She turns off the TV
The red light of the heart flashing
The last star
In this forever foreign sky
And carefully they lie in bed
Listening to the sound
Of growing children
Safe in the Alps Twenty Years Later
My father’s breath is like a cave
of dripping stalactites and echo
My mother sleeps and in her dreams
the worst is happening, again
Mountains surround us and muffle
the edge of younger times, the names
of places where we’ve said goodbye
and once again, we’ll say goodbye
And carefully I lie in bed, listening
to the sound of distant snow