Adoration
Svetlana was named Svetlana because she adored the light
and when I say adore
I mean truly the word adoration
because we’ve lost what it means to be truly devoted
to something. We say we love our families
or our countries or our ideas
but I know a man who fell
in love with a little purple plum
he carried her in his pocket
he knew everything about that plum
and you might say but what is there to know
about a piece of fruit? And that’s why you can’t fall in love
that’s why the light has become just another reflection of our own sensibility
and you rip plums wide open and toss the beating hearts.
and when I say adore
I mean truly the word adoration
because we’ve lost what it means to be truly devoted
to something. We say we love our families
or our countries or our ideas
but I know a man who fell
in love with a little purple plum
he carried her in his pocket
he knew everything about that plum
and you might say but what is there to know
about a piece of fruit? And that’s why you can’t fall in love
that’s why the light has become just another reflection of our own sensibility
and you rip plums wide open and toss the beating hearts.
“Adoration” originally appeared in West Branch and has been reprinted with permission of the author.
Originally from the Ukraine, Luisa Muradyan is currently a PhD student at the University of Houston, where she is an Editor at Gulf Coast. Her previous work has appeared or is forthcoming in Blackbird, West Branch, Ninth Letter, and PANK among others.More About West Branch
