When Valia asked me,
‘When did you first set foot in the world?’,
my laugh, like a rhubarb shoot
pokes its head through the snow of my mouth.
My laugh is a sob
that crumples all the smiles in the world.
Yes, Valia!
I was Neanderthal
when I first set foot in this world.
With my own eyes
I witnessed the era of the prophets,
the shameful passage of history
marched down the wrinkles on my forehead.
And yet…
the swindling institutions
of the rotting conscience of the age
have not recorded my name
in the book of the living.
Moscow, 19/10/1974
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