Lead Me to the Waters

POMEGRANATE CHILD
Hanindya Aulia Sariyanto · Hamburg
(Prose under 19)
When I asked them, why they would grow pomegranates – because who would? – Sara would smile and say she loved them. Reminded her of home. I thought I knew what she meant. She made home sound like paradise on earth. Why even leave it? Why come to Germany? I didn’t know about the world or wars and the adults didn’t know how to keep secrets and gossip away from children. Later on, I figured that Sara probably only repeated her parents’ words as she was too young to keep the grand scale of utopian memories she told me of all in her head. Besides, you don’t need a reason for everything, right?
Friederike Gralle · Berlin

SIERRA LEONE, 1982
Friederike Gralle · Berlin
(poetry over 19)

Our life without clocks, the potholes
on the roads made every trip unbearably long
the white van stuck on the riverbank again, this time
becoming part of the baptismal service
church members in their flowing robes surrounded us with hymns
waiting for my father to put on his collar
Lead me to the Waters

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