Lesson in Buoyancy

by Charlotte Ungar

Image: “Blue Dream” by Nasta Martyn

I remember in the early days
we’d try on wedding dresses

and it was obvious taken off
and put on which girl

with what frame
would morph into her mother’s

and we theorized these elements
in silence slipping

two slices of soft white bread
out of a bag

and I never had the assurance
of my own happening

and as the air dampened
with honeysuckle and gasoline

we’d jump into a pool of mosaic glass
our hair sleeked

wild as film sluiced from a reel
over and over again

beneath the water we all knew
cold to emulate and sometimes

we’d pretend to drown
but only if we knew

one of us watching
could save the other.

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Charlotte Ungar's work has recently appeared in the Long River Review, the Jewish Literary Journal, F-Word Magazine, The Penn Review, and elsewhere.

Nasta Martyn is an artist, graphic artist, illustrator, poet, and writer. She graduated from the Academy of Slavic Cultures and has a bachelor's degree in design. She is currently pursuing a master's degree in art history. In 2005, she created a series of graphics dedicated to the Chernobyl disaster, and in the same year, she wrote the series "The Red Book." In 2022, she participated in international exhibitions in China, Taiwan, and the United States. In 2024, she received the Jury's Special Prize for her poster in China.

Instagram @martynpasta