Many Restless Concerns by Gayle Brandeis
This a is a haunting, lyrical exploration of voice, silence, and collective memory. Written in a chorus-like style, it blends poetry and narrative to capture the pain and resilience of women erased by history. While the language is powerful and evocative, the fragmented structure sometimes felt repetitive and kept me at a distance emotionally. A thought-provoking and experimental read, though not one that fully gripped me 🔪
There are three worlds, we were taught—
the upper world, where angels bathe in lakes of milk,
the lower world, where dragons dwell in darkness,
the human world afloat between.
If this is true, we are stuck halfway up,
keen to taste the milk of paradise
on what used to be our tongues.
Are we making this too pretty?
We don’t want to make this too pretty.
We don’t want to turn our deaths into spectacle.
We don’t want to excite you with our pain.
We know people will remember the pretty.
We want you to bear witness.
We want this to be an epitaph
over all our unmarked graves."