how to write a poem about Bucha

have the kettle on behind you on a video call. steep the words its rattle and hiss grind up to make a cup tea. let it sit. soak a piece of knitting in it, rib by rib. now put the wool over your eyes and wait until it sucks out of them the sights of dogs shot dead in the street.  wring it.  dip daffodils in the resulting ink. wait for a storm. what’s left on the petals, rain-torn, will be the poem.

“How to Write a Poem about Bucha” originally appeared in Ukrainian-American Poets Respond, edited by Olena Jennings and Virlana Tkacz (2022).