Russia

NIGHTMARE

 after “We Lived Happily During the War” by Ilya Kaminsky

We sent pop guns, but not
the right kind.

We sent firehoses, but too late
to help.

In our shiny … Read more

The Hunger Of War

Image: https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-piece-of-paper-with-an-anti-war-message-11302918/

They’re piling up
or splayed out
on streets
body after body
civilians
unarmed
or ill-advisedly
armed
in haste
and heroism
their meat is needed
to feed the hunger.… Read more

Performance Art

 

Artwork: istockphoto by Getty Images in public domain

He’s the last man standing.
Whether comedian
or statesman
performance is all
for the last man standing.
Standing in the rubble … Read more

Where Are They Now

 

In 1967 I hitch-hiked to Belgrade.

My friend and I would take an overnight train

to stay with our Albanian friends

in what is now Kosovo.

Until then we … Read more

Kiev or Kyiv?

  • by

say it in Russian
or in true Ukrainian
the stark fact remains

on the scary brink
of catastrophic bloodshed
we wait for Putin

his fragile ego
breeds ambition to rebuild… Read more

I DON’T SPEAK UKRANIAN

I don’t speak Ukrainian,
no way to read their funnies;
Danila the Demonslayer
or the Red Fury. I can’t read
the letters you sent, Zayda,
in Ukrainian and Yiddish. I’m … Read more