Men by Valzhyna Mort

"mama their lips fall on me like burning planes."

Men
by Valzhyna Mort

Men arrive like a date on a calendar
they keep visiting once a month
men who’ve seen the bottom
of the deepest bottles
kings of both earth and heaven
and like the pearls from a torn necklace
trembling I scatter at their touch
their heartbeats open doors
vessels respond to their voice commands
and wind licks their faces like a crazy dog
and gallops after their train and roams
they undress me as if undressing themselves
and hold me in their arms like a saxophone
and oh this music these endless blues
like milk from breasts
those notes too high for human ears
those notes too low for gods
men who teach children to laugh
men who teach time how to run
men who love other men in club toilets
men who’ve kissed the hand of death herself
men who’ve never listened to my threats nightmares
which bound me to a chair
mama their lips fall on me
like burning planes
they are powerful patient
and when the world crashes
everyone runs for the shelters
they pause to pluck one of my lashes
mama not even mine
just anyone’s mama
come back
rescue me find me
in this plane wreck

First Published in A Freckle on the Nose: Poetry Over Prose. Translated by Franz Wright.