Diamond without r

Mary Barnes

I'm not saying I'm Polish

even if it's just from the ground to the knee

like my mother up to her navel

never says she is polish like my grandma

denies her Polish-German accent.

I'm not saying I'm English

only because I was a kid on the island

that continues to recede

homesick a hammock

which I no longer fit in.

[…]

I'm not saying that only mleko clocking

on my tongue my throat clicks

you can swing in it until the sickness

pry a ship that waits! not

wait for me