Ida Lewin (1906–1938)
AlwaysWinter, Poland20. Ive heard that Polish wivescook beets into a broththat bleeds, as though from hemorrhage. They fill white bowlswith dumplings pressed into the shapeof shrunken ears, their thumbs molding pastry to looklike lobe and auricle. Awful,to hear ones own devouringbefore it comes. Consider ears.They know the scrapethat metal makes inside the bowl—pale cochleae, so vulnerablethey float across the soup, poor things, that cannot sealthemselves against the sound but roll,ears swirling past a spoon. I wonder at this mealfor cannibals.With such an audience below,who wouldnt lose the taste for dough?