the subject subjects and the object objects
the subject subjects the object the object objects to the subject
the subject objects to the object
yet the object objects to objection
the subject subjects the object to objection
and subjects the subject to subjection
yet the object objects
the object subjects only subjectively
subjectively the object subjects the subject
subjectively the object subjects the subject to subjection
yet objectively the subject subjects the object to objection
and the object objects
the object objects to objection objectively
having exhausted every available option we left
for a walk in st. nicholas the air had a chill
you pulled my left hand and we spotted
three tawny cardinals
what more can i give you paperwork overgrown
forms populated to the point of suburban sprawl
submitted by your rounded pastel edges
submitted to the arnold palmer
sunset repackaged matted slacker hair and owner
’s dog eminent domain of eden
vegan chicken fingers clearly entail britney
blackout era a new sorrow somewhere
between because of and despite
the bleaching potholes
dependable days of heaven
thudding with the afternoon counter
will you let me in your lengthened shadow
there is always further sidewalk
what can i get started for you?
budget cuts, placeholders
are thriving in the places once held
so tenderly under the speed
of invasive species replacing one
another between the tracks: crabgrass,
dynasties, nettles. the rattling corridor
is my only option at gathering dusk
ducking into the fluorescent stall
hand washing hand of any palm
the coffeepot will flee anyway
tumbling with its whistling burden
to a sharper meadow, every blade
accounted for. how is everything tasting?
by definition, labels come undone
maker rotting two stations ago
glue insufficient for tenderness
but sublime between the cars
August 6, 2024
Venya Gushchin is a poet, literary translator, and assistant professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of Southern California. His translations of Vladimir Mayakovsky and Elizaveta Mnatsakanova have received the Columbia University Slavic Department Pushkin Prize. His translation of Blockade Swallow, selected poems by Olga Berggolts, appeared from Smokestack Books in 2022. His translation of the Russian-language Kalmyk poet Dordzhi Dzhaldzhireev is forthcoming from World Poetry Books in 2027. His writing has appeared in The Rumpus; Exchanges; Ballast Journal; No, Dear; and elsewhere.
