Ukrainians Are Not Russians

Robert Ronnow
The Imaginary i

Ukrainians Are Not Russians

Science can’t save you and neither can religion,
the only alternative is to let what happens happen
therein happiness happens to lie, in the abyss
about which God lied, the relative importance of politics
v. personal mortality, why care about the future
the dead don’t live to see it, it’s a source of information
to forget and be forgotten, self-revelation
yet the world rotates just fine without humans,
each individual identifiable hoot and wail, loud laugh and suppressed scream,
installing sump pumps and fighting forest fires, former lovers or subcontractors,

The slow death of one sometimes makes the sudden murder of another,
first entertain then enlighten if you can, that was the Top Bard’s rule,
the small no smaller than the great and the great no greater than the small,
all night card games and sometimes open swims,
a light wave and a particle, understandable to anyone
and meaningful to someone, overwrought reactions
and irrational exuberance, ionic and covalent bonds,
perhaps chanting’s the answer though there’s nothing wrong with a little silence,
some of our favorite characters croak and quarks
are the reincarnation of Clifford Brown,

If you’re not being read you’re already dead,
killing time before it kills me v. whatever forever,
dandelions and huckleberry, mushrooms and seaweed,
grasses and cactuses, seed and carrion, skunk smell
and turkey flock, panhandlers and pedestrians, food
gathering and preparation, do not even begin the beguine because I’ve got you under my skin,
FLO and LUCA, the truth we reason and the truth we’ve seen,
how you spend your money and do you believe in a god
who can see all and understand, watching at your father’s deathbed
and being at a birth, choosing to do this and refusing to do that,

A fine Spring rain or mortars on the Eurasian front,
the dry samara, achene or capsule surrounding a seed,
policy or personal questions, honor and bravery, tits and ass,
a fox, a coyote or a bear, rules of war, markets and law,
filberts, almonds and walnuts, ancient Romans and Britons,
Gaza v, Israel and Russia v. just about everyone,
wet nights and warm days, meditative and active both,
corner of Church and Chambers, daily life as low intensity warfare
and walking in wilderness alone, coins heads or tails, winds
bright or dark, measure for measure v. all’s well that ends well,

The history that surrounds you or going to your daily discipline,
birds you’ve seen v. people loved, daddylonglegs seeingeyedog,
what was accomplished or never finished and how I’ve felt
about every wasted day, them dark-skinned mustachioed shitheads
v. them fat bearded tattooed pissed off white bros, how we live together
by verse or force, deciduous leaves and edible understory herbs,
windmills on the sky and bridges in the sea, pornography v. verbal prowess,
the fern and sedge, flying and at rest, win or lose play your best,
judiciously employ violence to organize and defend the nest,
atomic bubble gum and protein computer, the saw and the pulaski,

I must devote my present to my future existence
not that the national debate should cease, a system of beliefs to illustrate
and the naming of things according to our observations,
Spring in the Sonoran, summer in the Olympics and autumn in New York,
the neighborhood safe, the nation a nonviolent helpmate among nations,
earth science and branches of government, words and numbers
are things no one has ever seen or heard or touched,
3 hots and a cot, circle with a dot, cheese and crackers,
harsh mountains and deserts, dualities and discrepancies,
an abstract audial harmonization of the Big Bang and The Fall,

I don’t believe in an afterlife or machines with emerging consciousness,
wait and see how big and dark the universe is, the passionate and zealous,
ocotillo or girl on a bicycle, hundred year storms
or normal summer warming, the bottom of the ocean
and the palm at the end of the mind, the dream-lover and -killer
are you in disguise, yesterday’s walk and today’s work, organic farms
and endangered species, just and unjust wars,
laboring for the success and happiness of others,
bringing order from chaos, there were always too many things in my life,
theories and hypotheses, to the gods the individual won’t matter,

the emptiness at the core of your being and an impending tsunami,
scotch and Star Trek, Popper v. Niebuhr, anomie v. democracy,
a vase or heavy clay ashtray, mature stems and quality veneer,
the algebra and the calculus, the geopolitical drama
and existential dilemma, transit strike and supermarket bagger,
one can remain anonymous yet still avoid the deeper question,
break dancers and ice skaters, boxers or jockeys,
news photos of grizzled Ukes and dead Orcs,
a buddy and a blonde, the enemy and their god,
a big wet kiss posted on the internet and a hawk on a bough.