translated and adapted from the Polish by Stephen Paul Miller
I can’t fill your shoes
so there they go a-
round the world.
Who’ll ever find them?
But your rings
fit like gloves:
pearl-green and silver,
gold—
they put them
in an envelope
with your name.
You liked me in your rings, Mama:
one is like the moon in blue,
and another pretends to be a flower
to amuse you.
Agnieszka Ginko-Humphries, Polish poet and writer, publishes with her maiden name Ginko. Her three poetry books are Kruche (2017), nominated to the Wawrzyny Award; Modlitwa spod znaku Ryb(2020), awarded Waśkiewicz Literary Prize; and aż tyle(2022) funded by the Polish Literary Institute. Her poems have been published in Poland, the UK, and Serbia. She is also an author of award-winning books for children and three books on art therapy and cultural education for social inclusion.