We are in the moment before we decide,for the first time, to have sex.We fill our mouths with salami and wine.I am careful, peeling wax paper off glazed sponge cakebaked by nuns who live down the street.One nun, this morning, took my hand in herswhile she told me that the most important ingredientis the silence of prayer.I cannot tell you this, but I held onto herwhile she walked me through a villagemade of thick paper. A train with a real lightand human figurines hot-glued to looklike they were heading somewhere.I was terrified. I didn’t touch a man for seven years.Asleep. Your eyelashes open against my chest.You are the first person to not know this.
Saying I Am a Survivor in Another Language
Taneum Bambrick
Feature Date
- September 28, 2021
Series
Selected By
Share This Poem
Print This Poem
This poem was originally published in The Nation magazine and is reprinted here with permission.
Find more great poetry news and analysis from The Nation here.
Taneum Bambrick is the author of Intimacies, Received (Copper Canyon Press 2022) and Vantage, which was selected for the 2019 American Poetry Review/Honickman first book award (APR 2019). A Dornsife Fellow at USC, her poems appear in the New Yorker, The Nation, American Poetry Review, and elsewhere. She has received support through a 2020 Stegner Fellowship, a Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference Work Study Scholarship, and an Environmental Writing Fellowship from the Vermont Studio Center. With Dorothy Chan, she edits book reviews for Pleiades Magazine.
June 28/July 5
New York, New York
Editorial Director & Publisher
Katrina vanden Heuvel
Editor
D.D. Guttenplan
President
Erin O’Mara
Literary Editor
David Marcus
Managing Editor
Rose D’Amora
Principled. Progressive. The Nation speaks truth to power to build a more just society.
Home to tenacious muckraking, provocative commentary, and spirited debate about politics and culture, The Nation empowers readers to fight for justice and equality for all. By providing a deeper understanding of the world as it is—and as it could be—we drive bold ideas into the conversation and ignite debates far beyond our pages.
We believe in intellectual freedom. We value facts and transparency. We argue that dissent is patriotic and we hold the powerful to account, no matter their political persuasion. We raise up the promise of a radical tomorrow while we agitate for meaningful change today. Above all, we aspire to galvanize a more informed public—one equipped with a more profound understanding of events, ideas, and history.
Founded by abolitionists in 1865, we’ve long believed that independent journalism has the capacity to bring about a more democratic and equitable world. Our writers shift paradigms and open minds. Our deep investigative reporting launches congressional hearings, forces policy change, and shapes news cycles. Instigating progress: It’s not only our legacy, it’s our continued commitment to future generations of torchbearers.
Poetry Daily Depends on You
With your support, we make reading the best contemporary poetry a treasured daily experience. Consider a contribution today.
