Ask Baba Yaga: How Can I Be Myself In a Place That I Hate?

Transcript after the jump.

Dear Baba Yaga,

I don’t love the place where I live. I moved here to be with the person I love, away from the city I love, away from my friends and my family. It’s been one year and our stay here is only temporary, but I’m having a hard time seeing the good in this place. How can I last another two years? How can I be myself here?

BABA YAGA:

There is not ; always good in every place, or if there is good, it may take sifting through broken glass & rubbish on yr knees to find something glinting. Save yr knees. You are away from all the things ) that make you familiar to yrself, so you weaken. Protect the self that does limp on & in the meanwhiles think on what you did not let yrself ponder when all was safe & known. ;Exile is torture without the hope of new gleanings, even if they do not glint.

Previously: “How Do I Get Over the Shame I Feel For My Work?”

Taisia Kitaiskaia is a poet, writer, and Michener Center for Writers fellow. She’s taking questions on behalf of Baba Yaga at [email protected].