1

dark rivers cry cities snivel

as water stands all week long up to the brow

there where i flow on that shore

an orange noah shoiga breaks camp

i beg ask him to let you pass i cannot

part today tomorrow

then later forever

holy meat protein body

the forsaken moist with sweat,

that which is ninety per whole water

2

you know charles i surrender how careful i wait

from window to window i pace, an animal

carrying such need

squeaking my nose along the smooth glass

staring staring at the empty road

circling the cage

each nerve takes the bearing

i pass the four decades’ extension course

this ZOO-logy i call it

3

there is something important i won’t say yet but have told

behind the wash or stew i stand a broken pressure cooker

i burn, saying burn, but there where you speak, i rumble,

threaten to leave, i do, but where you stand i will be glued

don’t send me away, do not, this exit—emergency only,

don’t look the way they look, eye-sockets in the Chechen pits

in the temples where you pray let me let me finish my nap

in the checkerboard where you bare your teeth, let me scowl

4

5

6

 7

Translated by Tatyana Retivova