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.