We are falling fast
like crashing trees
we are dropping
like wounded birds
Forget dignity –
hands hitting hard
on cold ground
screams stifled deep
Babusia lying prone –
seconds or minutes
or a lifetime –
then swoosh of delirium
We are scrambling
to our feet
we are pulling her up
fleeing through streets
Hand-embroidered red scarf
fluttering in the wind
Ksenia Rychtycka is a first-generation Ukrainian American poet and fiction writer. Her poetry chapbook, A Sky Full of Wings, won the Eric Hoffer Book Award in the chapbook category and a da Vinci Eye award for cover design. Her collection of short stories, Crossing the Border, was a finalist in the Next Generation Indie Book Awards. Ksenia’s work has appeared in many literary journals and anthologies, most recently in The Literary Bohemian, Wordpeace, Ukrainian American Poets Respond and Fusion Magazine. She worked as an editor in Ukraine during the early years of the post-Soviet era and has backpacked through twelve countries in Europe.