AFTER ALL THESE YEARS

extended motif
hammer and sickle
obsolete sheaves of corn

extended terrace
outside your window
empty cigarette packets
in abandoned snow
half empty eyes
like a Soviet gastronom

the thrill of a gaudy circus
stately dowagers
lost in a gypsy camp

just faded brush strokes
Shipkina tram lines blurred
in rain and vaporous pain
steaming up from gray asphalt
railroads into factories
overgrown with grass

in the morning
vodka with bottled water
knowing afternoon
would give up on evening

this is how it should be
otherwise walls won’t let you breathe
after all these years