Learning Polish
by Chad Heltzel

1. You are thinking too much, trying to think
2. about it in English at the same time,
3. the instructor says. Trzydzieści.
4. I believe I may never be able to speak it either,
5. a necessary word. But this
6. is the only way for me:
7. assembling the sounds
8. together as in English, speaking quickly
9. only the consonants surrounding
10. the space between words—not Zhivago.
11. Repeat and try again. Trzydzieści. Thirty.
12. As in, soon I will be. I cannot
13. leave English behind now. Przepraszam.
14. Instead, English and Polish at once—
15. stop, Zhivago—listen to how
16. the consonants collapse together
17. over the space; everything else erased.
18. I have said it. Przepraszam. Repeat.
19. I’m sorry. Szczęście. Happiness.
20. Hush, Chad—the sound of calm,
21. said twice. Then, a cry of pain
22. before concluding again near silence. I repeat.
23. Szczęście. Repeat it. Happiness.