for Vadim
We’d known all
along we’d need
papers we lacked, fight
identities we fled. See you
on the other
shore. You fostered
your careless
side, your faith
in yourself stronger
than most. Your
staggering mind. The sand
guards
your small pile
of clothes, the water
in your lungs cancels
your passport. Air,
denied. Memory,
released. See you
in another story. Is
there ever another?
Published in Cider Press Review, Volume 22, Issue 4.
A. Molotkov is an immigrant writer. His poetry collections are The Catalog of Broken Things, Application of Shadows and Synonyms for Silence, his collection of ten short stories, Interventions in Blood, is forthcoming as part of Hawaiʻi Review Issue 91. Molotkov’s work appears in Prairie Schooner, The Triquarterly Review, Kenyon Review Online and most other quality journals. His prose is represented by Laura Strachan at Strachan Lit. Please visit him at AMolotkov.com.
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