Learning to Speak in Czech

Nemluvím
esky.
Navigate carefully.
Newly muffled clicking teeth.
Nevermind speaking.

Nerozumím.
Neat rows of symbols newly minted. Neat rows of symbols newly minted.
Net zero meaning.
I do not remember.

Jak se řekne
Český “___________”?

You say reckless.
You say restless.
Say wrecked.
Say weight.
Waiting in my cheeks “all this empty space”?

You see red-kneed children,
dancing, their readied chests
aching for the right key.

Emily Paige Wilson’s poetry has been nominated for Best New Poets, Best of the Net, and two Pushcart Prizes. Her work can be found in The Adroit Journal, The Boiler Journal, Hayden’s Ferry Review, PANK, and Thrush, among others. She lives in Wilmington, NC, where she received her MFA from UNCW, and works as an English adjunct. She rules her life like a fine skylark and is working on her crow pose.