Roni Margulies

1955 / Istanbul

Singular

In English it's easy, just add an s
In Turkish too, ler or lar will do
But in Greek plural suffixes
always leave you in a fix

There's seaport, for instance, limani
and more than one, limania,
while gramma means only one letter,
multiplied, they become grammata

Inexplicably different
the feminine from the masculine
so only one thing's clear to me now:
I've had it with all suffixes.

But now and then, for no reason,
I find myself on my own repeating,
the most singular word I know:
Elsa, Elsa, Elsa.

Translation: Saliha Paker and Mel Kenne
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