Bulgarian Soldiers Distributing Cigarettes to Turkish Prisoners
Underneath the false acacia,
black lotus,
my grandmother tells me a tale
of slaughtered Bulgarians
in a war I can’t remember
the name of.
Childrens’ necks sheared on
wood stumps so raw
they bled out
from splinters before their heads
rolled onto Mavrud mud.
Baba holds me captive in her wool
sweater that chafes my cheek.
I was never taught
my history in America,
so she fills the gaps
with cruel wars
as punishment to my father
for taking us away from her.
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.