Born in 1988, Agnese Rutkēviča, also known as Anna Foma, is a Latvian poet, writer, and playwright, and actor. She has published two poetry collections, the 2013 Jaunā Vāgnera klusēšana [The Silence of Young Wagner], and the 2020 Vietām cilvēki. She is currently writing her third book of poetry, The Measurements of Distance (Attāluma mērvienības). She lives in Valmiera.
We are peaceful in each other’s memories
Like horses in the field before sunrise
And the sun rises like a knife
That grandfather cut bread with in his dreams
we are far in each other’s dreams
like hands disturbed by wakefulness
a farewell and yet one more life
our memories are an entire bus station
where a stranger finds
the lost mitten of a child
and doesn’t know what to do
until he suddenly sticks it in his coat pocket
next to the other things
he meticulously saves
but doesn’t know
why
we are old and festive in each other’s memories
like Cathedral Square in Vilnius
and at night, when it’s overtaken by emptiness
and darkness like a foreign army
we are not the only ones
who can’t fall asleep
and the sun rises like a knife
that grandfather cut his bread with in his dreams
Heart,
forgive me for this cigarette
the wind blew out.