It is believed in Slovak tradition that the shards that are not found by the bride after breaking a ceremonial plate used in the wedding celebration represent how much infidelity will exist in her marriage.
Perhaps they shimmer somewhere under a linen tablecloth.
Inextinguishably – try, you can’t crush them – beautiful
Vestiges of the broken world because in that unbearable excitement, you weren’t watching
where you placed your weight
a hand:
smooth ringlets of hair caught in the folds of his fingers
weight caught in slivers of broken porcelain
You know they aren’t easily cleaned up
It is as if they have vanished. How do they do that? Matter cannot just
disappear from the universe
Neither can endorphins
That inescapable swelling presence
In the knotty place just below the jaw
And I am that shard
Maid:
Why don’t you tie a babushka around your ears?
Place your gaze downward
Put that dustpan to the dirty dance floor
For later, you will smash plates in one shapeless memory
(frustration, elation, anger, bliss: same things)
The product: shards
Did you really think you would find each hiding piece?
Laura Yevchak enjoys interacting with tomorrow’s writers as high school English teacher in Sidman, Pennsylvania. She obtained a bachelor’s degree from Indiana University in English Education, and continued her education by earning a Master’s of Arts in the teaching of English. Laura often writes about the heritage and culture of Western Pennsylvania, in particular Eastern European ancestry.
