Russian Words I Think Are Beautiful 13: Pun
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Russian Words I Think Are Beautiful 12: Bluefish
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Russian Words I Think Are Beautiful #10: vinegar
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Russian Words I Think Are Beautiful 6: Brightness
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‘Lass uns runter gehen. Ich möchte das Eis ein bisschen genauer anschauen.
‘Okay, gehen wir.
She swung her leg over the concrete barrier, I followed. We shuffled down towards the piles of ice that had been moved to/washed upon the shore.
‘Gehst du echt auf sie laufen?
‘Wieso nicht. Sieht nicht gefährlich aus. Pass auf meine Tasche auf. Mein Komputer is drinne.
‘Wenn du reinfällst, helfe ich dir nicht. Ich gehe weg, nehm die Tasche mit.
She smiled, knowing I wouldn’t actually run away if she fell in. She put one foot on the ice, another. Took a third step, and the beached floe on the top of the pile crumbled. She with it. She sat, laughing at her idiocy.
‘Bring mir ein bisschen Eis mit, will es anschauen.
‘Welches?
‘Eins mit Schichten, ich will die Schichten anschauen.
She stood up, brought me a piece of ice. One with layers. I looked at the layers and the air trapped within. Six months worth of freezing. I threw it back, made sure it hit a vulnerable looking spot in the pile. With a crunch some ice shattered. I smiled.
‘Findest du es auch komisch dass sie hier angeln gehen? Die Fische sind unbedingt giftig.
‘Klar sind sie.
‘Deswegen gehe ich nie Fisch kaufen beim Markt.
She then began to tell me about the lakes in Sweden, where the fish are also poisonous. She says the water is beautiful, you could see to the bottom, but nothing lived inside. I replied that it was odd. Not like here. Here you couldn’t see to the bottom. Still she wouldn’t ever want to fish from it.
‘Hier siehts aus als ob Öl drauf wäre.
‘Ja stimmt.
We looked at the water with the sunset on it, like a ironed iridescent beetle shell. Both of us were probably wondering if there was really a layer of oil on top.
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ME VS. A GIRL VS. A LANGUAGE VS. JESUS
JESUS SAYS
THAT HE UNDERSTANDS ME
WHEN I FUCK UP
AND/OR HAVE PROBLEMS
WITH
MY BROTHER
OR DRINKING
SADNESS
OR PAYING BILLS
WONDER IF JESUS PAID ‘BILLS’
OR HOW HE SOLVED PROBLEMS
WITH HIS ‘BROTHER’ JAMES
WONDER WHAT HE THINKS
OF STRAY DOGS
OR RUSSIA
OR SIBERIA
WHAT DOES IT MEAN WHEN
TITANS
ARE TEAMAKERS?
OR WHEN A GIRL CALLS
WHAT DOES
THE SON OF GOD MEAN?
OR OCTOBER MEANS SNOWFALLS
IS A DOG A WOLF OR A DOG
WHEN IT HAS NO HOME
DOES IT TRANSFORM BY NATURE OF ITS DWELLING
WHAT IS A MAN IN RUSSIA
WHEN HE WASN’T BORN HERE
OR IF RUSSIA TRANSFORMED HIM OUT OF RUSSIA
WHAT AM I WHEN I AM NONE OF THESE THINGS:
DOG, WOLF, RUSSIAN, MAN
DID JESUS BECOME THE SON OF GOD BECAUSE
A) HIS MOM TOLD HIM
B) HIS DAD TOLD HIM
C) HE TOLD HIMSELF
AM I NOT RUSSIAN BECAUSE OF
A) BIRTH
B) LANGUAGE
C) MENTAL STATE
IS A WOLF NOT A DOG BECAUSE IT IS A WOLF
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Russian Words I Think Are Beautiful 2: mold
