in fifth
or sixth
grade
I came across an LP
by the band Breakout
and Mira Kubasińska.
on the cover they sat
wearing sweaters
in front of the studio mikes
looking past the camera.
it didn’t happen to them
everyone making love, stoned
right there in the dirt, right
in the middle of a war.
however they had
a man of marble
and a man of iron.
nowhere else
did they have
things like that.
in nineteen seventy-two
when I was born
they came to Moscow.
a concert at Luzhniki Stadium.
father says
policemen stood
in the aisles, hands behind their backs
to make sure
nobody danced.
mom and dad sat
in the orchestra
very nice seats.
they listened.
the man of marble
didn't dance
the man of iron
didn't dance,
no one danced
then, in nineteen seventy-two
at Luzhniki.
and now I too
don't know how.
or sixth
grade
I came across an LP
by the band Breakout
and Mira Kubasińska.
on the cover they sat
wearing sweaters
in front of the studio mikes
looking past the camera.
it didn’t happen to them
everyone making love, stoned
right there in the dirt, right
in the middle of a war.
however they had
a man of marble
and a man of iron.
nowhere else
did they have
things like that.
in nineteen seventy-two
when I was born
they came to Moscow.
a concert at Luzhniki Stadium.
father says
policemen stood
in the aisles, hands behind their backs
to make sure
nobody danced.
mom and dad sat
in the orchestra
very nice seats.
they listened.
the man of marble
didn't dance
the man of iron
didn't dance,
no one danced
then, in nineteen seventy-two
at Luzhniki.
and now I too
don't know how.