it’s not easy being a street
\nespecially at that place
\nwhere the crosswalk lies
\nwhere
\n horizontal
\nmeets
\n vertical<\/p>\n
humans and machines
\nsometimes beasts
\ndogs and doves
\nand wheels \u00e2\u02c6\u2019 the new ones for a few hundred dollars
\nor the old ones inherited from people born in 1930<\/p>\n
when i was little
\ni always got the two mixed up \u00e2\u02c6\u2019 vertical and horizontal
\nevery time i said the words
\ni pictured the horizon<\/p>\n
horizon \u00e2\u02c6\u2019 that’s like a line
\nbehind which the sea should instantly appear
\nand disappear again
\nthis street \u00e2\u02c6\u2019 me<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
+++<\/strong><\/p>\n i examined their bodies with my mouth i even called embassies<\/p>\n to hear that everything was the same and in its place<\/p>\n In our relationship we had no understanding for eyes a smile will keep for a while on my mouth sometimes it’s hard to believe the wind’s nothing but a difference in pressure never ever will i overturn life from the word death <\/p>\n +++<\/strong><\/p>\n as long as you forget my name <\/p>\n +++<\/strong><\/p>\n i kiss the wind with wild abandon <\/p>\n +++<\/strong><\/p>\n for in the your hand <\/p>\n +++<\/strong><\/p>\n read the snow <\/p>\n +++<\/strong><\/p>\n when you’re a tree what are birds to you their summer songs <\/p>\n when you <\/p>\n Translated for the first time into English by Chris Michalski, exclusively for Maintenant<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n By Volya Hapeyeva<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":119,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[484,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31620","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-maintenant","category-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.3ammagazine.com\/3am\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31620","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.3ammagazine.com\/3am\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.3ammagazine.com\/3am\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.3ammagazine.com\/3am\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/119"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.3ammagazine.com\/3am\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31620"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.3ammagazine.com\/3am\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31620\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.3ammagazine.com\/3am\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.3ammagazine.com\/3am\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.3ammagazine.com\/3am\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nand forgot that i had already had some
\nthat i have to breathe and eat
\nthat i am not them
\nbelong to other senses
\nOnly when their names got all jumbled
\ndid i open up
\nwater taps
\nwindows wide
\ndictionaries
\nword files<\/p>\n
\nonly hearing only forms
\n touch and shape weight rhythm and motion
\nhard kisses of emphasis embraces of sound
\n dances of intonation in empty stations
\nfrom which they departed
\nhaving left behind
\nlipstick stains on my cheek<\/p>\n
\ni guess that’s how a clown feels after the audience leaves<\/p>\n
\nsometimes a conjunction is more than just a way to connect words<\/p>\n
\noverturn the word girl from my own body
\nblood bakes on my breasts
\nbakes hard and crumbles<\/p>\n
\nday by day one letter at a time
\nlike no other body
\nwill i lie
\nunder the stretched electricity wires
\non the edges
\nof an all forgiving power plant
\nand like no other bird
\ngrasping for the naked wires
\nunder your left eye
\nthe muscle contracting
\nto find out
\nwhat an instant
\nreally is<\/p>\n
\nfor dessert i order day with caramel
\ni longed to marry a shadow \u00e2\u02c6\u2019 so what
\neven your shadow was enough
\nit’s just that your language
\nlacked a future
\nand so I was cursed to remain
\nin some form of past perfect<\/p>\n
\n months drifted warm palm of
\n my breasts boats of the\t<\/p>\n
\n till the very end
\nerase all the errors
\nuntil the snow melting
\nstills your thirst emancipated winter
\non the field’s edge red birds settle
\nloosen up the earth like the knot in your throat
\nbut however you swallow
\ni cannot save those blue lips
\ni am that unstressed syllable
\nto be more exact a concrete feminine noun with \u00c6\u00a7<\/em> in the stem
\nand to decline me \u2026
\n\u00e2\u02c6\u2019 what might i show you?
\n\u00e2\u02c6\u2019 these candies \u2026<\/em>
\nthe plural always helps
\nand since so many words
\nare not written together
\ni give myself a hyphen
\nunder my coat i bear
\nbouquets of red and yellow
\nsoft signs
\nagainst your hardness
\n though
\nyou are no exception
\nand i am not the rule<\/p>\n
\n and the wind has abandoned you
\nyou can stand for centuries untouched<\/p>\n
\nare a tree
\nabandoned by the wind <\/p>\n![\"img_hap2\"](\"https:\/\/www.3ammagazine.com\/3am\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/img_hap2.jpg\")
\nABOUT THE AUTHOR<\/strong>
\nVolya Hapeyeva <\/strong>(1982) was born in Minsk, Belarus. She graduated from Minsk State Linguistic University with an MA in Linguistics (MSLU) and Sociology (Gender Studies, EHU-International, Vilnius, Lithuania ). She then finished her PhD studies in Comparative Linguistics. A writer of poetry, prose, plays, her books include Reconstruction of the Sky<\/em> (2003) and Unshaven Morning<\/em> (2008). Her works have been translated into English, German, Czech, Macedonian, Polish, Lithuanian. She has also participated in a number of international literary festivals and conferences (Slovenia, Germany, Czech Republic, Lithuania). <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"![\"img_hap21\"](\"https:\/\/www.3ammagazine.com\/3am\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/img_hap21-150x150.jpg\")
as long as you forget my name
\nday by day one letter at a time
\nlike no other body
\nwill i lie
\nunder the stretched electricity wires
\non the edges
\nof an all forgiving power plant
\nand like no other bird
\ngrasping for the naked wires
\nunder your left eye
\nthe muscle contracting
\nto find out
\nwhat an instant
\nreally is <\/p>\n