Мушкато
Even as a child, I’d bite my nails, but
that never stopped the dirt
in my grandmother’s garden
from scratching them underneath
until I’d pick them clean with the thinnest
stick I could reach off her fig tree.
Young branches don’t break
easily, so I’d twist them until
they frayed like the bottom hem
of my jeans. I never wore shoes.
My grandfather built this house
for her, and she built a home
and a garden to feed her children
and their children—three generations
living in one house.
Никога не съм помагал с градината,
но щях да гледам как баба разкопава градината
със същата свирепост, която използва,
за да скъса възлите от косата ми, винаги мрънкайки,
малки момичета не бива да бягат наоколо така.
Tanya Korichkova is a senior applied math major at SUNY Geneseo. She spends her time between Geneseo and Redlands, California, where she was raised after immigrating from Bulgaria at the age of six.