Make Haste Slowly

Ioana Bostan
The sliver of light sliced through the velvet curtain and outlined her hand over the bowl. Come on, have a bite. Isn't it good? With orache and sorrel from Anuța's garden. Just how you like it. The old man nods like a mule and tugs at his coarse cotton pajamas. He tries to sit up. I don't want any more. You should eat it. The woman sighs, gathers the serviette and the bowl. I'm off to Antarctica, she hears him rasp. She adjusts her skirt and pretends to be busy. His glassy eyes follow her around the room. Stay a bit longer with us, father. He pulls at the mattress, but his legs won't obey him.
 
 Ionuț Morariu
The cemetery is the best school. That's where I learned that gestures come before meaning. Rabbi Akiva taught me that lesson while I was carrying a bucket of water to my mother's grave. He looked at me, weighing the answer to my unspoken question. We act first, and only later do we understand why we act that way, he said. Look, I say mother, and you cry. A tear is all the water you can give the dead. But until we understand, we carry the burden however we can. And what is there to understand, Rabbi? That God is the pause between two whispering tears. Love as if you were crying. Gently.
 
 Ramona Ungureanu
What are you doing, grandma, kneading the sourdough with my bear knife? Couldn't you find another stick? This one's good 'cause it's made of wood, I won't use a tin spoon to taint the bread. And what do you need it for anyway, you're not going anywhere today, I dreamed of your grandfather last night. He was in the chicken coop feeding them grains, but he was wearing patent leather shoes with a bit of a heel and some kind of pompom, and I told him Ioan, you've lost your mind, walking around with gala shoes in the henhouse, and when he turned to me, he had a wolf's snout and thick hair on his hands. That's a death sign, stay home.

 
(Translated by Maria Loredana Constantin / University of Bucharest, Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures, MTTLC, year I / Corrected by prof. dr. Nadina Vișan / Edited by Silvia Petrescu, coordinator of the translations)