Since I have to pay the bills like any other tiresome kvetcher and blogger, today’s post is sponsored by the Petrograd Import Substitution and Localization Center, and by lonely Rosa, who can be reached at the telephone number listed above.
Remember, whatever it is you need—cheese or sex—keep it local! Don’t import when you can make it yourself!
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Landwehr Canal, Berlin
The canal where they drowned Rosa
L., like a stubbed-out papirosa,
Has almost virtually gone wild.
So many roses have moldered since that time,
It is no mean feat to stun the tourists.
The wall, concrete forerunner of Christo,
Runs from city to calf and cow
Through fields blood has scoured.
A factory smokes like a cigar.
And the outlander pulls up the native gal’s
Frock not like a conqueror,
But like a finicky sculptor,
Getting ready to unveil
A statue fated to live a while
Longer than the reflection in the canal
Where Rosa was canned.
Source: Radio Svoboda. Translated by the Russian Reader
The Russian Reader 