BROWSE Columns
✕
mother and I crawl
through the forest
shapes of children’s voices
in a burning school, soft moss
we head towards them
trees denser than dense
mother is fast, she loads the gun
and shoots, urges me on
the men behind us
respond with dark fire
a child’s song bends
in the wind, I’ll save it
bullets swish by
muscles hard, deep stones
mother keeps moving,
shoots with charred hands
I turn and shoot too
the depth of the forest, sonic smoke
the rustling of children’s voices
ascending
silk shadows
mother and I
black guilt
black leaves
Agata Maslowska is a poet, writer, and translator born in Poland and living in Scotland. Her poetry and fiction have appeared in various magazines. She is the recipient of the Scottish Book Trust New Writers Award.
