Three Tongues by Izabela Bryniarska

There’s a word in Polish signifying
Incessant speech resembling output
Of a wind-up music box
endearing in the diminutive
katarynka doesn’t capture the anxiety
of rapidfire delivery its
fear of pausing

Zgiełk is Polish slang
cerebral, interior
loud as disquiet

No one-word translation for przymknij
To close a door so that barely
a crack remains

Szlochanie
more desperate than sobbing
a plug being pulled within
patient, lethal wound seeping

Heartbreak is compound
złamane serce physical
The French nail it with their love language
too much wine in an empty room
chagrin d’amour

Danger is danger is niebezpieczeństwo

In English I miss you
The structure of the Polish and French phrases implies that you
are missing from me

Tu me manques
Tęsknię

There’s no word for the mix of bliss
and confusion when you’re near
the moment it’s hard to tell
where I end
where you begin

— from Juniper Volume 7, Issue 2