Poems

KRISTIINA EHIN, translated by Ilmar Lehtpere

The Women of My Kin

The women of my kin sewed long cotton print skirts in the sixties calculated how much meat and groats went into the soup when a couple of hundred people or more came to an extended family get-together The women of my kin were up all night but still organised the teams did the egg and spoon race and tug of war changed infants’ nappies behind a bush in passing played last pair out A big flag with an oak leaf rose on Tammaru hill on a slightly crooked pole and everyone sang an anthem with words written by my mother their eyes wet with tears: In the lap of Läänemaa’s fields and forests here my fathers and mothers flourished over land and sea they went away we call on them all to gather today...

All the sweltering day I played among the junipers I got a splinter in my foot and a tick behind my ear Aunt Elga smeared butter on the tick and assured me: That way it can’t breathe and will come out by itself I helped grandfather get up on his feet had a taste of beer and as evening fell among the junipers

19 The Poetry Review