стихотворения о России

The pattern seems to be that I get two poems out of each trip, so here are the poetic friuts of my recent trip to Russia. :-)

At Lenin’s Tomb

What does Vladimir Illyich think
in his polished granite mausoleum
facing Dior and Armani windows
across Red Square in GUM?

And what does he feel
when the cathedral choir echoes
off Kremlin walls filling
the air with sanctity and song?

And does he acknowledge
tourists posing with upraised
clenched fists aping defiant zeal
in photos they will post
on their blogs?

The wheel executes another revolution.

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Lost and Found in Translation

Eyeing inscrutable runes
I try to decode them into
meaningful language

Cyrillic symbols
tantalizingly familiar
distressingly strange

Some are friendly saying what I expect to hear
some tricksters – P growls “rrrr” C hisses “ssss”
a near-W whispers “sh”

Others resemble nothing so much as mage’s spells
emblazoned in tomes of augury

I struggle to decipher these exotic hieroglyphs
letter by letter sound by sound
startling the crowd with my laughter
I discover the Russian word for “audio-
guide” is

audio-guide