Testaments from the Departed
I prefer a body
to its
absence.
Simple things
last under fire:
a needle, a knife,
a skeleton,
a street without
end, crumbling
red brick of these
cemetery walls. In the end,
there is no
end that we know of, just
a concept. I’ll
see you some-
where.
***
Translate me
into clay,
into words,
into light. Enable
lasting.
Restore hunger to
my lips.
All those
unsaid things—
a garden
of lost
thoughts—
give them
meaning.
Translate me
into yourself.
***
On the bottom
shelf,
my shadow.
The middle,
a mirror
holds my face.
On the top,
a jar
with my
ashes.
Room
full
of air.
Born in Russia, A. Molotkov moved to the US in 1990 and switched to writing in English in 1993. His poetry collections are The Catalog of Broken Things, Application of Shadows and Synonyms for Silence. Published by Kenyon, Iowa, Antioch, Massachusetts, Atlanta, Bennington and Tampa Reviews, Pif, Volt, 2 River View and many more, Molotkov has received various fiction and poetry awards and an Oregon Literary Fellowship. He co-edits The Inflectionist Review. Please visit him at AMolotkov.com.