Rebecca Zweig

Я ВАС ЛЮБИЛ; AFTER THE POEM BY PUSHKIN

Leza, I am live     streaming your wedding
on aweddingchapelinlv.com

and I am so happy for your radiant
hunger to accept a name not yours     for the loss

-less silken flowers protocolled into

ceremony confined in a chapel
of what could be mistaken for sunlight

in a windowless casino in the wild

in the desert     Дурочка, your man is leaning     is dis
-mantling towards you until your body’s

a time-lapse     encased in a borrowed sports coat and I’m

left rendering on your vows     Do you take
this wоmǻ̱́ꞌ̈ʻǸ     will you ̃ốƙẽẻp ħêŕ in sickness aŇd     caught

in the half-second repetition of your
movement     I want to build a prolonged quiet

in its glitch     ask you он будет любить

тебя, как я тебя люблю? before it blooms
into your plighted hand     but what I can’t

touch now     could I have ever touched

REBECCA ZWEIG is an American poet and journalist. She recently held a fellowship at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and lives in Mexico City.