maya benattar
It wasn't trauma, he said
It wasn’t trauma, he said.
But they left in the middle of the night
and he didn’t get to say goodbye
to his best friend.
Sixty years later, he can still tell you his name.
It wasn’t trauma, he said.
But they surrendered their passports to leave,
and went into France as refugees.
His father detained by authorities for months,
returning home mostly deaf and never quite the same.
It wasn’t trauma, he said.
But the boxes of precious and mundane papers
stood packed in the basement
for many years.
Just in case it was time to leave, again.
It wasn’t trauma, he said.
But he eats quickly - like it’s hard to slow down, and
wakes sometimes with nightmares.
He rarely talks of his interrupted childhood,
and never of the war that came later.
But it wasn’t trauma, he said.
It wasn’t trauma, he said.
But they left in the middle of the night
and he didn’t get to say goodbye
to his best friend.
Sixty years later, he can still tell you his name.
It wasn’t trauma, he said.
But they surrendered their passports to leave,
and went into France as refugees.
His father detained by authorities for months,
returning home mostly deaf and never quite the same.
It wasn’t trauma, he said.
But the boxes of precious and mundane papers
stood packed in the basement
for many years.
Just in case it was time to leave, again.
It wasn’t trauma, he said.
But he eats quickly - like it’s hard to slow down, and
wakes sometimes with nightmares.
He rarely talks of his interrupted childhood,
and never of the war that came later.
But it wasn’t trauma, he said.
Maya Benattar (she/her) is a New York based music psychotherapist and writer. Her client work and writing focus on how family stories, forced displacement, & intergenerational trauma shape the way we show up in the world. Her writings can be found at Hey Alma and Five Minute Lit. She lives with her husband and anxiously attached rescue dog near the Hudson River in New York.
website - www.mayabenattar.com
Twitter/IG: @mayabenattar
website - www.mayabenattar.com
Twitter/IG: @mayabenattar
