The Cold War

Russians fear the cold, the floor,
it will make you sterile
I think the strangest culture shock is
I can't tell if these people are Americans or Russians,
As if Hollywood or Madison Ave won the war? Both nations fall.

We got on the train, just having a Russian conductor there made me nervous...
then a whole company of soldiers boarded behind us. We barely batted an eye.

My mother hid under her schooldesk yearly
Because someone over here was pointing nukes at
someone pointing nukes at someone and my Father
was taught Russian so he could keep a close eye on the
comings and goings and mutterings of Sovremenny's and
Migs. Today at church the lady leading worship, I think she's in a
metal band she works at the local tank factory her boss is old KGB.
(Given Bush Sr. and Putin's backgrounds, perhaps the war was won
by intelligence agencies)

As for me--I visit in summer--sweating out the heat somewhere not quite
to Siberia--we're working together in so many things--to look at this people: so arrogant,
brilliant, productive, ignorant, patriotic, cynical, beautiful--so much like Americans--it's hard not to
laugh, to feel a little disgust, to fall in love...One wonders if American politicians had
visited Sochi and the Crimea instead of Moscow and St. Pete, or if Russians were received
in Malibu and West Palm Beach (instead of NY and DC), if the whole mess would've blown
over fifty years ago. But empire, I guess, is a powerful thing. The Americans are in Afghanistan now,
the Lithuanians are free. We search for new ghosts although the statues of Lenin are
still standing. It's hard to understand--what it means to be free
when my friends all talk of moving to where grasses are green,
and one can buy Converses, Hummers, and watch American Dad while all of us Yanks are
in debt to the credit card companies. At the first McDonald's in Moscow in 1990, some people ordered
every menu item on the first day, just to try everything.
After KFC, my Muscovite friends invite me over to their place to play Texas Hold Em Poker,
eat Pringles and Coca-Cola, and watch a b-grade Hollywood movie.
Coke conquers all. And Wal-Mart's economy is in the top 40,
people stopped wanting to conquer and warmed to buying.
The great society, a world appeased.

I fear the war in my heart. The relativity. The corruption and greed. The judging.
The cold.
I fear that sometime my knees will not deign to touch the floor, nor
my socks be allowed to touch poverty.
I'm afraid of what the Cheeseburgers and B-grade movies and easy chairs
might do to me.