Reading is a Suspicious Activity - poem

 

 

Reading is a Suspicious Activity:

Blue-Penciled in Solovetsky

 

“…Soviet writers failed to write about their personal thoughts.”

 

-Yevtushenko

 

Reading is a suspicious activity

Unless it’s a technical book of instructions

Or a hunting magazine with centerfolds

Of seductive semi-automatics

 

Writing is a forbidden activity

Unless it’s a grocery shopping list

Or the code to a new computer game

Of zombie valkyries with swastika tats

 

They’ve only gotten as far as statues thrown down

They’ll destroy the libraries next – and maybe you