#mandelstam
“The F_g with the Bow Tie” 1
“Only in Russia is poetry respected – it gets people killed.
Is there anywhere else where poetry is so common a
motive for ******
-Osip Mandelstam 2
Spain. Poetry got people killed in Spain -
And still wherever tyrants of delicate nerves
And artistic sensitivities hear
Whispered rumors of whispered disapproval
And so an innocent, fearful and trembling
Must be motored away to a moonless death
Upon orders spoken, written, tweeted
Telephoned, telegraphed, or teletyped
One prays he has a moment to adjust his tie
Perfectly - as an honor to Poetry
1 The slur is attributed to Federico Garcia Lorca’s murderers:
https://lithub.com/dictators-kill-poets-on-federico-garcia-lorcas-last-days/
2 Quoted by Yevgeny Yevtushenko in 20th Century Russian Poetry*
Mar 12, 2019
Mar 12, 2019 at 4:07 PM UTC
Lawrence Hall, HSG
[email protected]
For a Political Friend Who Politically Accused Me
of Having My Apolitical Head in the Sand Politically
Our lives no longer feel ground under them
-Mandelstam, “The Stalin Epigram”
I have no illusions
I have no solutions
I have Mr. Biden and Mr. Trump
(And occasional basal cell carcinomas)
I can be silenced in fear
By their suicide sides
But I have a brain
(“…an ill-favoured thing, sir, but mine own.”)
And so to them
I am dangerous
If I am noticed at all
Apr 3, 2024
Apr 3, 2024 at 1:34 PM UTC