Brodsky And Pushkin Poem by Dmitry Garanin

If Brodsky could have written your poem,
clearly, you are mimicking him.
And if he couldn't have written your poem,
your poem is no good -
for if your poem was any good,
Brodsky would already have written it.

Pushkin, however, in the first case
couldn't have written your poem,
as he could not write like Brodsky.
But this is, conversely, good for you,
because he really would be unable
rather than unwilling.

And in the second case Pushkin
could well have written your poem,
because he didn't know
that for Brodsky your poem was no good.

But it never occurs to anybody
that you are mimicking Pushkin

because you are writing like Brodsky!

New York,27 October 2014