Radna Fabias
Translated from the Dutch by David Colmer

the returned migrant is like
the returned migrant is is
the hot air the succumbing to the heat
is the succumbing

the returned migrant is the adult is
the motherland that is the mother he tries
to worm back into is the worming is hot is blood everywhere
is the midwife the sigh
“it’s painful for everyone”

the returned migrant is the bar-slash-grocery store is
the booze in the hand of the drunk is
the drunk in the same corner on the same chair is the same
diabetic drunk who sat there years ago too the returned migrant is
paralyzed on that same chair is that chair is phantom pain observes
the amputation

the returned migrant is the ocean is a few steps away from the ocean a small hot church the hot air a handful of plastic fans that blow the hot air to and fro the returned migrant looks for answers sits with a missal on his knee is the missal is here together in the name of the Father the Son et cetera sings together with the burnt bodies is the voices is the bodies is the Father the Son et cetera is the songs he learned before he knew how to ask interlocking questions the returned migrant is interlocking questions and the heat is a few steps away from the ocean is just like that water just like that water the returned migrant is full of terror inducing life is frightening is frightened is
deep
blue
dark

the returned migrant hears himself the wind the water hears the wind and the water’s whispered death threats is all this is his neighbor is a small hot church is the hot air is the host is the kneeler is a few steps away from the ocean is the ocean is next to the church is the donkey is a vacant lot where the donkey brays chained to a lamppost during holy communion is the donkey is the vacant lot
is the eyes is
torn the returned migrant is
his eyes closes
his eyes closes
himself is closed
prays
is the prayer to be whole

from the book HABITUS / Deep Vellum
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"Clifton uses the occasion of her father’s funeral to attest to the lives lived and the marks made by the generations of people she descends from. First they are names, dates, and places. Like Caroline Donald—Mammy Ca’line—'born free among the Dahomey people in 1822 and died free in Bedford Virginia in 1910.' To reinscribe these lives into recollected history is to restore history itself to a rightful state of commotion."

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