Public Republic

Milena Valkanova

Photo: akshay moon

Mom, there are times
when your hand in mine
feels like throbbing
of a thousand lives together.
We are the unsundered
chain of blood
meandering
within the riverbeds
where our great grandmothers
threw their daughters like bread
on the water.
Now is a time
to let your mother walk
on the Dead Sea of your tears
toward the dawn of forgiveness,
so that you can grow,
so that our women’s blood
is purified
and continues its way
to my future daughters
and she, and you, and we
come back again
like bread on the water.