Poetry

The Gift

by Volha Hapeyeva

he bought her a dress
as a farewell present
on his birthday

whether she still wears it
I wonder

my own dresses I buy myself
gifts are a strange practice
particularly those from men

perhaps because of Lévi-Strauss?
I was a present myself for so long

giving and receiving
and receiving so as to give away
a symbolic void
binds us

in place of men and women
we exchange their stories
with the hope
of becoming — at least — distant
relatives