Notes from A Trip to Russia
Summer 2009
LLyn De Danaan
Estonia to Russian Border #1
Sullen Soggy Sky.
Only bands of yellow brush
punctuate dense green.
Estonia to Russian Border #2
Cows are hidden
Somewhere in low woods
sleeping in slim birch.
St. Petersburg
Clouds over Neva.
A quick tern dives suddenly.
Tug approaches stone bridge.
Peter Hauf
Peter-built fountains.
Gilded turtles and goddesses
crouch near water slides.
Lagoda Lake June 2009
Crystal band of cloud
marks horizon where sun slips
away but leaves light.
Bronze Horseman
His hand everywhere.
Pillars, marble, waterways:
Peter’s grand vision.
Peter Hauf #2
Booties on our feet
We slip-slide through shiny rooms
admiring moldings.
Rasputin
The mad monk lived on.
How many ways can we fail
to slay one another?
Petrozavodsk
Memory flames dance.
Cold, wet stone and somber birds
remember war dead.
Surprise of Lilac
Suprise of lilac.
Parks and paths dressed up for spring
red and green and white.
Tourism
Recounting past trips
Tourists speak of tiresome food
steamy climes endured.
The Bell Tower
Bleached bones of church
Rise from muddy lake bed
not defiant–sad.
The Tretyakov I
Woman in a cell.
River waters rising fast
Inconsolable.
The Tretyakov II
Children on a sledge.
This should be happy; but there–
There is a coffin
The Tretyakov III
The whole wall is red
with your dance, your flowered skirts
your smooth rouged skin.
The Armory
Tsarinas’ heads seem
Twice bigger than their slim waists.
No chin corsets then.
Ludmilla’s Hair
Thick blond swag and bang
Belie keen intelligence
launch a thousand ships.
Yeltsin’s Liver
They call the sculpture
Yeltin’s liver–a twisted
stone cartoon tombstone.
Remember
“War is always tears and catastrophe.” Russian WW II Veteran