Anniversary:
I went to a tea party
On February 24th, 2024.
We drank tea. I was asked
How I am, and I said, upset.
Of course, that's much too
heavy a topic. What do you think
The first person to create bread
Was like? Someone said.
Tea doesn't agree with me,
one person told us, but
I took some Xanax.
We laughed.
I limped into a joke, too, I
don't remember what.
I drank tea with Americans, and
When I said, Navalny's dead
One of them said, oh
I think I've heard of him.
We drank the tea. I tried to be
Good company. The green
tablecloth, pristine above
Fell in soft folds into the
Blood that my shoes tracked in.
Behind only me, the future of thousands
Lay in dust. Somewhere, someone
That could arrest me at the border
Was laying awake in bed. What
Could they possibly be thinking?
We drank tea.
If I could gather into my hands
Make visible the crushed
Country that I'm from, would
They believe me? Would they at least
Look at it and say,
Let's get you
some bandages?
