an attempt at making sense

I wrote this using inspiration from Aster Lit’s current edition theme “palimpsest”, or signs of things left behind (this poem will be part of my submission quintet! wish me luck!) so there was a large focus on physical signs of change or disturbance.

The cardboard is part of a protest sign. It’s left blank to show not everything has to be spelled out to spark connection. This image is painted during the early hours of the morning to signify the passing day, as the results were announced at night (you can look up videos of this) and I’m very attached to this idea of hope persisting. I used “udvariember” as it’s mostly used by older people towards young men, but is technically gender neutral and I think connects the two generations. Also, the image of a possibly upper class working young person mixes well with the later image of the lower class working older person. We all want the same thing. The specification of the cardboard being brown and wet, being taken in, is representative of the protesting young people of Hungary’s embrace of immigrants, particularly Roma migrants, which Orbán famously opposed.

The second stanza is again this idea of persisting. Workers, average people, clean up, gather the banisters and whatever else may have dropped. I like this imagery of a shed skin, people dropping defences. The change is like a collective sigh of relief, and in that relief, old growths of hatred slump off.

The third stanza details a couple meeting at night. This is intended to be a queer couple. The silent protest shows they have always been here, but even a short week’s time can change what they are allowed to do. Magyar Péter is vocal about LGBTQ rights whereas Orbán Viktor banned pride events. The line “try not to forget me” is one saying to the other, continue living your life, when you are struggling remember there are others out there like you. “But don’t try to find me” shows a danger which could grow if they pursue the relationship, especially in public, and especially in daytime. I kept most words in this poem gender neutral to show how everyone is affected by the regime.

This couplet is self explanatory I think, no physical trophy will be as potent as the beginning of a new day with hope. Ironic as I’m writing this instead of sleeping. Also a reference to our golden crest on the flag.

Here in this list form stanza the lines bleed into each other, showing how interconnected these wildly different things are, even those who don’t speak the language or do but aren’t in the physical country (like myself), how there is community where we can’t see it. It also represents the passing of days. The river which splits the city in two is the Duna, or Danube for English speakers, and represents unification just like the the two sides of the city which became our one Budapest.