The screech of streetcars falls silent.
Juice trickles from a windfall pomegranate
branching—
as though a monster had grown through the rails
or lung tissue rotted
and the bronchi and vessels
of a woolly and leathery body were bared.
Vladimir goes to Crimea. He is seduced by Alimeh.
Alexey marries Venus. Saturn isn’t eating.
Deported adolescents become integrated into society.
Pulpy prejudice follows, then yummy nebulae,
translucent excesses, affinities bitten off.
How is this shirt different from all other shirts?
The black thread is a dog, the red thread a fox.
How is this shirt different from all other shirts?
The black thread is a Catholic priest, the red thread an Orthodox.
How is this shirt different from all other shirts?
The black thread is coke, the red thread coral.
How is this shirt different from all other shirts?
The black thread is three, four, the red thread chestnut, fir.
Love is a source of biological information.
A police officer having had intimate relations
with the decapitated corpse of a suicide bomber
soon quit drinking and converted to Islam;
has stopped swearing; smells of iodine and myrtle.
Тексты, написанные без ведома автора © Pavel Gol’din. By arrangement with the author. Translation © 2014 by Nika Skandiaka. All rights reserved.