some poems /2004/

Lena after 1 hour 18 minutes of the game
against Nastya says thank you
parents, couch, sponsores,
organizers, fans,
next year
I will necessarily improve my serving.

Nastya after 1 hour 18 minutes of the game
against Lena says thank you
parents, couch, sponsores,
fans, and now let us all
stand up, one minute's silence in remembrance of
the children, in September (hesitates)
impossible to forget, come on, get up (cries)

I love Nastya. And I don't care about her serving.

_____________

I was afraid of sliding the folty ice-hill
It was alien to me or something
To slide – to climb – footsteps – hold on – to slide – to climb
With a piece of cardboard
Screams, childish fearlessness, wet mittens

Perfect snow men, rarely snow women, fortresses
Big-headed animals without fur
Creation because of unbelieveing
In possibility to climb and then to slide

Those ones were breaking my snow men, who were not scared

But the snow men remained, while no one else remained

_____________

That won’t be enough for everyone, the quantity’s limited
There’s a paper with an instruction drawn on it
But noone uses it
Understanding, that it’s better badly, but in your own way
Awry, but it seems like remaining

You’ll suddenly shudder when you’ll imagine:
I will rot, die, get old prematurely,
You’ll freeze in pedestrian subway
On the Prospect of Peace*

As some, let us assume, North Korea
Sinks because Kim Chen Ir has caught cold

_____________

soon, my darling, very soon and fast
they’ll lay a tunnel under the silver forest
patch all of the life-contrieved holes
fix the Bolshoy theatre
and we’ll feel good
as agarics in spawn – warmely and dumply

I plant an orange pit in sand;
They give me a ball and I make a three-points throw
People in the streets present me money for no particular reason
I wake up and see a Japanese bike beneath my window
I fry scrambled eggs and they’re not burnt

_____________

you’ll never become Angela Davis
you’ve had it, but it’s gone along unknown ways
born loser, bum child
with eyes of glossy kind

so who will play for interest and
will hold a shed by one’s free hand
(a lamp pillar, an amber shiver,
a bar)

Or easier: inject into each other some ink - these
blue dragons and a tank** along the whole chest
To know, how sensitive this flesh is
And how insensible is the gist


(translated by Anastasia Afanaseva)
_____________
* subway station
** From anecdote: - Please, make me tank tattoo.
Half-hour later: - Done.
- Already???
- What’s the problem – only 4 letters.