Thomas Kretz
Another Language
I had forgotten my balalaika,
a gift from Czarina Alexandra
and once plucked by Rasputin
before his last bath in the Neva
to a great grandson of Victoria
resonating down kissing cousins
through an unlikely friend to me
becoming the envy of my tutor.
Rowing back up whitewater
memory, sweat a second spray
but still slower than the salmon,
I caught a glimpse of Catherine
snipping off strips of neighbors
to make a quilt for an old lover,
finally turning scissors on Peter,
repeating it over and over again.
Running out of Ivans I realized
I was on the wrong River Styx,
anchored the rowboat near shore;
rope held long enough to step out.
Vessel broke into worthless words
and I watched a Cyrillic alphabet
scatter, sink, fast food for salmon,
Muscovites up the Thames to Kew.
Page(s) 78
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