Mounted police have returned to the streets of St. Petersburg.
Source: Marina Varchenko (Facebook), 10 June 2023. Translated by the Russian Reader
Riders! The cavalry charges on knotted legs, bucking their backs! Confucius-handed and Buddha-headed People with arms and torso Move across the tundra Other same-sex creatures walk around and whistle… A light downpour pours and pours Pitter-patter And Pitter-patter And Pitter-patter And Pitter-patter And Pitter-patter Softly, softly, as if it isn’t water, but happiness Under the bright sun Of historical materialism… Everyone is free to go. * * * Riders Horsemen Scouts! The delegation from the nearby islands, So near so near, by the edge of the red peacock, Oohed and aahed nearby and then fell silent… Basically, we're doing great! Buzz off, I’m a married woman, as they say. The delegation from the islands considered the problem of “The oppression of ethnic minorities.” It was a fruitful meeting. Henceforth many streets will be called “avenues,” But “rain” and “cream-colored” will remain. It will seem odd to you, but songs shall also be sung, And internal resources employed… The delegation did not approve what is called “freedom.” They started saying it was “anarchy.” Well, of course we went for our knives… the carnage lasted for a long while! It’s inhumane to finish off the wounded, they… All belong to the people.
Photo by Boris Smelov. Courtesy of ov-ov.com
Born in Pavlodar (Kazakh SSR), Vadim Ovchinnikov (1951–1996) was a Leningrad/Petersburg-based artist who worked in a number of media, including painting, watercolor, collage, animation, mail art, conceptual literature, and music. His works can be found in the collections of the Russian Museum (Petersburg), the Moscow Museum of Modern Art, the Art Museum of Pavlodar, and Kai Forsblom Gallery (Helsinki). For more information on Ovchinnikov’s art and life, see the website ov-ov.com. The two poems by Mr. Ovchinnikov, above, were originally translated by Thomas Campbell for the exhibition catalogue The New Artists (Yekaterina Andreyeva and Nelly Podgorskaya, editors; Moscow Museum of Modern Art, 2012). These translations have been revised for publication here.
