EYEBROWS

no-no, I won’t put on a black dress

black shoes and a black shawl

I’ll come to you all in white—if I have a chance to come

and I’ll be wearing nine white skirts

one beneath the other

I’ll sit down in front of a mirror

(it’ll be draped with a cloth)

strike up a match

it’ll burn out and I’ll

moisten it with my tongue

and draw black eyebrows

over my own, also black

then I’ll have two pairs of eyebrows

mine and yours above them

no-no, I won’t put on a black dress

I’ll put your black eyebrows

on me

Translated by Svetlana Lavochkina