three

Shorter Russian Poem

famine, plague
floods, rains
droughts
poverty, robberies
kidnappings
civil war
invasions
tyrannies upon
tyrannies
. . . and then
the dark times
came

Pathetic Fallacy

Never mind there’s
no hole so deep
you don’t get banged
when you hit
bottom, or that
the zombies have
overtaken the Capitol—
I still hear nightingale songs
every time I see pigeons
nosediving in early
morning hale, whose
icy spitballs remind me
of paradise.

Rye Sense of Humor

you don’t have to be Jewish
to send a salami
to your boy in the navy