Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE RUSSIAN ARMY GOES INTO BAKU, by ALICIA SUSKIN OSTRIKER


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE RUSSIAN ARMY GOES INTO BAKU, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: When the ethnic riots start, and the civilized west
Last Line: With an unhappy man
Subject(s): Russia – Army; War; Freedom; Cold War


The trees of May are green,
Full of themselves, wetter each dawn,
The morning stars sing, the squirrels run.

Our bird feeders need daily refilling, the hot
Azaleas enhance their orange and fuschia tints,
The rhododendrons puckered dryly inside

Their big buds begun to force themselves out,
Apple blossoms lie in shallow pools
At the feet of their trunks.

All week relentless rain
Soaks the ground, beats the roofs, rat-tat
Races down the gutters.

I imagine it falling into the Hudson River
Around the scows and barges. I imagine it
Splashing the yellow slickers of road crews.

I imagine that I am farms and towns stretched out
The width of New Jersey and Pennsylvania
Flat on my back looking up at a gray sky.

The grays shift, it must be windy up there,
I feel the rain batter me, how good it is, cleansing the air,
Pocking my skin --

Good, good, like sex after childbirth
When the body is keen
For pleasure again.


http://www.wlu.edu/~shenano






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