Category Archives: TATI’S POEMS

Dry-clean Only

Let’s see… it’s your soul.
It was delivered to you
at birth as a gift.
What? Why are you so surprised?
The usual birthday gift.

Has your grandmother
ever presented to you…
let us say… mittens?
All grandmothers love to knit
cute motley mittens, I know.

You got your present.
You adore your new mittens
(and your grandmother)
and treat them grandmotherly.
(Oh, what a great word I found!)

You wear them with care.
You scold yourself for foul spots.
You wash and sew up,
any stain and any hole…
Do you remember that day?

You think, ‘Tomorrow!’
You say, ‘It’s a seamy side…’
Fading in the wash,
shrinking, getting out of shape…
Small stuff. The mittens! Big deal!

Where are your mittens?
Now it’s a dirty duster.
It doesn’t fit even
for the second-hand strip mall,
not to speak of paradise…

Quite right, paradise!
What? Why are you so surprised?
You forgot, buddy!
I tell you about your soul.
These mittens are just a trope.

by TETIANA ALEKSINA
© All rights reserved 2015

Try-on

I try to pull words
over gnarled reality.
They bulge at the seams.
They rip like worn-out stockings.
Fast. Uncompromisingly.

Darn! Reality
is prickly and awkward-shaped.
I throw ripped phrases
into the rubbish-words-bin
and take the next unworn pair.

by TETIANA ALEKSINA
© All rights reserved 2015

Blooming

for my Purple Creature

Please, please, don’t think that
butterflies are silly with
a short memory

Please, please, don’t think that
they sit on this withered bush
without a purpose

No… They remember
its beauty. They remember
all colors and forms

How it bloomed before
a thunder-bolt that summer
Yes, they remember

They sit the same day
every year… it’s a present
The birthday present
The present from butterflies
for their depressed withered friend

by TETIANA ALEKSINA
© All rights reserved 2015

Blame it on the Rainbow

You’re out for
a walk every day
buttoned from
throat to knees
the hood pulled over your head
Man-in-Heavy-Sheath

You’re untouched
by the Sun and rains
You’re sheltered
You’re secure
Nothing can hurt your soft pith
Man-in-Heavy-Sheath

But one day
one beautiful day
a strange rain
flecked your coat
You didn’t care, you were careless
Man-in-Heavy-Sheath

You got home
You hung your wet coat
on a hook
and you missed
shimmering rainbow spatters
on your heavy sheath

Next morning
you put on your coat
buttoned from
throat to knees
and went out into the street
Man-in-Heavy-Sheath

A few steps…
and… what the devil?
You felt how
the Sun heats
your back… Something strange happened
with your heavy sheath

You’re so scared
You run to your home
You should clean
You should wash
You can’t let the Sun disturb
your soft pith again

You can’t sleep
You have a nightmare
how you walk
stark naked
and the most horrible thing
that you feel happy

Next morning
you put on your coat
buttoned from
throat to knees
Oh, poor Man-in-Heavy-Sheath…
can’t you believe? Still?

Day-by-day
you pace the small room
Night-by-night
you don’t sleep
You must forget this feeling
You must recall it

You’re drained by
fright and exhaustion
You’re ready
to end this
You run through an open door
like a suicide

You come round
naked on the road
You feel how
the Sun strokes…
and the most horrible thing…
Hey! Say it out loud!

…I sit here
happy and guilty
Should I say
“I’m sorry”
for spattering you with love,
Man-lost-Heavy-Sheath?

by TETIANA ALEKSINA
© All rights reserved 2015

Toleration

A butterfly dies
with wings putting together
Palms of a prayer
Confession and repentance
of a happy careless life

An ant who devours
death and flesh, feelers and legs
never touches wings
never cuts off a prayer
It’s the greatest blasphemy

by TETIANA ALEKSINA
© All rights reserved 2015