Three Sisters Poem by gershon hepner

On which of them was Anton keener
In “Three Sisters”. It is hard to say.
Olga, Masha and Irina
all have moments in the play
that make you think they’re doomed to fail
in different ways, but the gatecrasher,
Natalya, turns into the rail
that will electrocute both Masha
and Irina, leaving only
Olga with a life that makes
some sense, though doomed to be as lonely,
because a job’s not all it takes.
She ultimately will prevail,
because she takes with her Anfisa to
escape Natalya. Life’s a tale
that only faithfulness makes true.


Inspired by a performance of “The Three Sisters” at the Odyssey theater. Wikipedia, writing about Olga, states:

The eldest of the three sisters, she is the matriarchal figure of the Prozorov family though at the beginning of the play she is only 28 years old. Olga is a teacher at the high school, where she frequently fills in for the oft-absent headmistress. Olga is a spinster and at one point tells Irina that she would have married 'any man, even an old man if he had asked' her. Olga is very motherly even to the elderly servants, keeping on the elderly nurse/retainer Anfisa, long after she has ceased to be useful. When Olga reluctantly takes the role of headmistress permanently, she takes Anfisa with her to escape the clutches of the heartless Natalya.

10/19/09