Nafanya by Yvonne Zipter

Nafanya

Because the magnitude of war is too much
for an 11-year-old brain to absorb, because

the possibility of her parents dying is beyond reckoning,
she calls from the city where she has been sent

to safety, asking, How is Nafanya? Her guinea pig
has stayed with her parents near where the bombs

fall and fall and fall. How is Nafanya? she asks,
calling again and again. And as long as her mother

answers, she can continue to tell herself that a small
ball of fluff is the only thing that worries her.

by Yvonne Zipter

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/YvonneZipterWrites
Instagram: @yvonnezipter
Twitter: @YvonneZipter

Editor’s Note: The magnitude of war is too much for all of us.

Photograph by Christine Klocek-Lim