WHAT IS IT LIKE, YOUR UKRAINIAN LIFE?

It’s waking up at 6.30
to go swim in the lake, just nearby.
It’s drinking tea from a big metal bottle,
and it tastes slightly like coffee.
It’s celebrating kids who were born the same month,
baking a cake and sharing it in class.
It’s doing assigned reading on a summer vacation,
wondering what has been lost in translation.
It’s making a batch of Easter buns with your grandma, and bringing them to the family table.

It’s watering your growing strawberries,
picking cherries, and making jams.
It’s getting tanned by the summer sun,
just laying in your backyard.
It’s drinking more cups of tea
than you could’ve drank water.
It’s going out to meet with your friend
When you have no money to spend
It’s when your cousin is just a sister —
and it isn’t wrong — it’s our way of thinking.
It’s buying a cake on a random Tuesday,
Sitting on the grass, letting the fresh air fill your lungs,

It’s so many things

and no dictionary will ever have enough words.