Pushkins Park. Gurzuf, Ukraine

Pushkin's Park. Gurzuf, Ukraine.

(dedicated to George Gutsche, Head of Russian and Slavic studies, University of Arizona)

Concrete, steel, rapacious windows look out on serpentine alleys,
where ages used to calligraph their ideals in gold folios.

You can stay and walk
 in Pushkin’s steps for a mere $60 per night in the summer.

When Pushkin goes out of season in winter  –
(his steps are covered up by a fine layer of snowflakes)
It’s only $30 to inhabit a concrete colossus
and gaze at a still fountain called “Night”.

Why did I come here? Perhaps it was to trace the figures
carved into wood pillars at an entrance to a small glade,
surrounded, hidden from the seaside parade of art at “best” prices
by cypress, pine, and sycamore standing like Scythians* at a funeral,
granting a glimpse into the past to those who still wander.

Or, perhaps, to digitize the gates to immortality
(with bird carvings and myths inscribed)
with a French manicured finger
($35 in a white shop, $25 in a Vietnamese).


* Scythians – ancient nomadic people who could have been the ancestors of some of the Slavic people