Excerpt from The Most Dazzling Girl In Berlin by Kip Wilson, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

we used to buy

I run a fingertip over
the wooden counter that used
to stand at eye level
but before I can ask
Herr Koch if he can use
an extra pair of hands, the same old
man who used to slip an extra
potato in our basket with a smile

takes one look at my rumpled
dress, my ratty hair, shakes
his head, points to the door.


My face flames as I brush
past paying customers and
out to the street, where
lost people like me


I must try harder.

FROM KADEWE TO KU'DAMM

I pass by the immense display
windows of KaDeWe

once again feeling
Mutti's hand gripping
mine, pulling
me forward to examine
the lovely wares.

I can't even imagine
marching inside someplace so
dazzling to ask for work

when all my reflection shows
is my ragged appearance.

I run my fingers over
flyaway strands escaping
my chin-length bob, straighten
my dress, encourage
myself by humming a favorite
childhood song


glance across the street
at the elegant, overflowing
Romanisches Café beside
the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtnis-Kirche
its spire poking
the heavens like
a sharp needle
head down Ku'Damm

getting more and more


with each door I pass



but not

defeated.

REJECTED

I try again
and again
and again
and again

making my way toward the
southern end of Schöneberg

but even at Herr Lachmann's
Buchladen



I don't get any further.

When I ask for work, remind
him of my visits in the past, his
lips whisper Sorry, hand gestures
to the Berliner Tageblatt spread
over the counter with
the dismal headline

head shakes, finger points


and I wonder
how I'm going
to find my way in this

cold
hard
world.

LAST-DITCH EFFORT

Day turns to night
my feet grow weary
walking in circles
but still I continue

the cozy Café Leon beckons
with glowing golden light over
bursting-full tables tended
by one very occupied waiter.

I slip inside, step
up to the counter, clear
my throat.



Desperate, harried,
the manager whips
his head toward
me at the sound of my
voice, his eyes
full of interest.

But after one look at
what I have to offer
he frowns, shakes
his head nein.

Excerpted from The Most Dazzling Girl In Berlin by Kip Wilson. Copyright © 2022 by Kip Wilson. Excerpted by permission of Versify. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.