Marxism-Leninism And A Mouse Poem by Dmitry Garanin

I remember, in the '80s, in Moscow
I was standing in my kitchen
with a book on Marxism-Leninism in my hands
just slammed shut in indignation -
it was not a very thick book,
probably Friedrich Engels.

At that very moment a small mouse
ran out from under the cupboard -
a rare guest in our apartment
in those lean times of stagnation.

In a fit of hunter passion,
still fired up by the reading,
I hurled the book flat, like a discus,
giving it spin
with both hands
without a backswing,
without moving my body.

Oh how proud I was of the hurl
that struck the animal,
even though it had hidden itself
under the cabinet,
with the book flying in obliquely,
like a circular saw!

I pulled the mouse out by the tail,
with a broken back and still convulsing,
looked at it for a long time
and then threw it into the trash.

For many years I kept a good feeling
about a beautiful throw of rare precision -
such things don't happen every day,
and not to everybody!

Having received another confirmation of my strength
and my ability to concentrate at the right moment,
I soon left that country forever,
and my self-confidence
served me well at that time.

And only now,
after so many years of living in the West,
did I suddenly realize that in that episode
I was merely a blind weapon
of the things I was forced to study
against my will -
because only those higher powers
could lend such strength and precision
to the throw.

And the dead little mouse, then, was
only a small, insignificant link
in the chain of millions of innocent victims
already coming to an end
in those times of stagnation
before the collapse.

New York,9 September 2013