The Poetry of Kathleen Jones

Above Middleton.
The Fell Gate.
Adopted
Aiming For Archangel
Glasnost
Ginny
Glenn Gould
Appleby Horse Fair
Lark
On Feral Ground
River Rising
To The Gods The Shades
Skiddaw
Stainmore
Transformation
An Emphasis of Want
War Hero
Whale Music

GLASNOST

I try to pretend it isn't happening.
Posing in front of Lenin's tomb
for happy snaps, the fake smile
hides a mistake as big as Siberia.

Later, at the Stalin Dock
we sit on deck and drink Champanskie
watching the sun set in the Volga
with no language to communicate
that isn't compromised. The politics of love
suddenly incorrect between us.

And two more weeks in cramped quarters
watching the pine and birch repeat
mile after mile towards the Arctic Circle's
clear, perpetual daylight.

© Kathleen Jones

KATHLEEN JONES

GLASNOST