[…]

“And I swear it’s not because I hate you,

           or that I can’t blame you at all.”


It’s just…  I have dreams where I die.
I have dreams where we all die.

“I’ll trade you for one of mine,
if you don’t mind the nightmare

          that isn’t yours.”

Cross your fingers, and hold your breath, she says.

“I don’t mind.”



Finding Stone

I’m stirring languages with other words,
Sprinkling Hebrew niceties, and slang,
Mixing in Yiddish swearwords and idioms.

Bubbe thinks it amusing, to hear phrases
Rooted in childhood and memories
Spoken fifty years too young.

My cousin Murray found our grandmother’s grave, she tells me,
She’s buried in Poland, in a small town, Perhaps you will read
The inscription in stone, written in Hebrew.

Hopefully, I answer.
Shalom, this to the family ghosts, and aleichem.
May peace be with you – I’m coming.

       


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Stefanie Maclin
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Stefanie Maclin lives in Boston MA, where she's attempting to figure out what happens next.  She graduated from Suffolk University in May 2005 with a B.A. in English/Creative Writing, and is hoping to return to the academic life in the autumn 2008, this time for her Masters degree. She's been previously published on Abyss&Apex, and in Venture Literary Magazine.  Meanwhile, she maintains healthy addictions to tea and chocolate, and writes poetry to keep from slipping through any cracks.