First Impressions: USSR
I survived the crush of Moscow’s
customs queues at Sheremetyevo
in ‘76, but couldn’t prove
I’d come to teach in Sakartvelo.*
From California, darkly tanned,
I stood alone for several hours,
grilled regarding books I brought,
some by Thoreau on personal powers.
The US consul finally arrived,
confirmed I was American—
invited there to teach those texts.
The Russians thought that I was Georgian.
Customs kept books, but not my copies
of Civil Disobedience: a creed
the Georgians dreamed with Gandhi and King,
fulfilled by peaceful plans to secede.**
*The native language name for Georgia
**The first soviet republic to do so, 4/10/91
__________________
Ralph
Last edited by RCL; 01-13-2016 at 12:03 PM.
Reason: major tinkering; deleted S2; new final Q
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