Matvei Yankelevich
* * * [And the winter does nothing]
“And the winter does nothing”
for the question of equilibrium.
I answered with trees swaying
and raised a zero above shoulders
to indicate that nothing is equal
to infinity on all sides. I wore
my zero as a hat, and as a badge
of honor awarded for not doing
anything at all. I keep in mind
a feeling of holding your crotch
in the palm of my hand — this
gives me solace: a comfort at
knowing something completely
without study, endlessly open.
Where the body turns, it can
ache, splitting easily apart. A
terrible way to go, but I can't
write to you about this, so
I write to you about zero.
[First line: Ramsey Nasr, tr. Sarah Harvey]
[published in the magazine Prelude]