Everyone thought he would be crippled like her, but he came out big and healthy, a boy who cried loudly, who wanted to nurse all the time. I was born first, before my brother. My aunt who had [...]
She had to take care of her brothers and sister and her sick mother for a long time. That role should have been by tradition her older sister’s but she ran away to the north instead. My [...]
Soon after you were born, the barbarians from the south invaded the coast. We fled to the ravines and the hills. They stole everything, the grain, the wine, the salt fish, the lentils. Only [...]
I was all alone. I had been told about the sea, but I never believed it. The sea goes on and on and on. Where I come from, the view is always masked by a wall, a tree, a hill. We could think the [...]
My daughter my little girl Sleep high, sleep to the right Sleep down, sleep to the left Shhh, shhh, I will protect you from all I will protect you from the spells of the incubus, From knives [...]
Their backs relax against upholstered wood while their buttocks are cushioned with comfortable pillows all embroidered by hand. We sit in the back, on hard benches, be careful those splinters [...]
You remember your grandmother, don’t you? In your body, a small person wanders, bakes her bread as you saw her do every day, heals wounds with her poultices, caresses the head of a sheep, mends [...]
My mother was worried. She was always worried. – We do not have enough hands. – The children will help. – They are still so young. – I will work for four. Near the hills [...]
My grandmother replied: – No, no, we should not lay her straight and stiff like a stick. She must sleep on her side, with her legs pressed against her chest. In her left hand, her bowl, in [...]
The mistress pointed to the one she wanted. Often my mother would object: – Take that one, it produces less eggs. But the mistress never agreed. – It doesn’t matter. I want the [...]