25.ii.22
783
3.56
too much czar
poem for Ukraine
From Russia there came just a widow’s veil
For her dead to bewail
In her widow’s veil
From the far-off Russian land,
From the far-off Russian land.
– Brecht
Sudetenland, now next day Anschluss
things are faster these days
reminds me of a computer game
back in the seventies
map’s too messy
better join the dots
but I can’t remember the name
it was ‘do unto others’
something like
56
68
22
bingo sovietski!
what eye brows?
what moustaches!
simply not being a Nazi
is setting the bar too low
too much czar for one country
borders are portable
like socialism
rumble of tanks
have we been here before?
chase fur across a continent
clumsy big bear paws
beautiful metro
Alaska long gone
not being Stalin isn’t enough
there’s a familiar whiff
Laika’s still round and round
all fur and bones
orbits all decay
Tchaikovsky
Dostoyevsky
Tolstoy
Rachmaninoff
one of them was terrible
Catherine had a horse
none made the golden record
we remember
culture is to conquer
how can we stay at home?
and there are those dolls
each a picture of docile weakness
one within the other
you have to weep for mother
what she has suffered
what she’s suffering now
Imre Nagy
Alexander Dubček
haven’t we been here before?
Afghanistan’s a nice picnic spot
dedicate kalashnikov
to your very own mujahidin
too much Rasputin
too much czar
drunk on anger
angry drunk
projecting all that calm
we’ll learn to love the motherland
Smert tyurme, svobodu protestu
here comes the comedian
where’s Pussy Riot now
when we need them?
holy of holies
czars can’t take a joke
czars have such big paws
Zelenskyy – servant of the people
television comes to life
will you get it into the box again?
the least one now will later be gone
hitch up to the celestial wagon
turn the vodka back into potatoes
it’s never too late to laugh
everyone was a Cossack once
there’s one less nation now
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