{"id":84025,"date":"2016-12-12T12:00:20","date_gmt":"2016-12-12T12:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=84025"},"modified":"2016-12-06T13:08:28","modified_gmt":"2016-12-06T13:08:28","slug":"the-russians-are-hacking-my-poems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2016\/12\/the-russians-are-hacking-my-poems\/","title":{"rendered":"The Russians Are Hacking My Poems!!!"},"content":{"rendered":"

1.
\nDah!<\/em>\u00a0 It\u2019s true!
\nEvery time I come upon
\nsome clever turn-of-phrase,
\nthey\u2019re in my brain,
\nthey\u2019re at my screen\u2014
\nhacking, hacking, hacking!<\/p>\n

Every metaphor I write
\nthey claim is Dostoyevsky\u2019s!
\nEvery simile is Tolstoy\u2019s!
\nEvery irony\u2014you guessed it!
\nChekhov\u2019s!<\/p>\n

They turn my language inside-out.
\nI write moon-June love poems,
\nand they turn them into treatises
\non Revolutionary Aesthetics!<\/p>\n

I complain to the Democratic National Committee.
\nI complain to Debbie Wasserman Schultz!
\nSurely, she knows about \u201chacking\u201d!
\nSurely, she will help me!<\/p>\n

\u201cSurely, you know,\u201d she informs me,
\n\u201cthe election is over!
\nGet lost!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNyet!\u201d <\/em>I cry from my dog-sled.
\nThey are my life\u2019s blood!
\nThe best of me!<\/p>\n

\u201cDas-vidaniya,\u201d <\/em>cries Debbie.
\n\u201cToodaloo!\u201d<\/p>\n

2.
\nI wander the streets of Moscow,
\nMaine\u2026.
\nIt\u2019s cold!\u00a0 I\u2019m wearing
\nGogol\u2019s overcoat.
\nI\u2019m bound to get in trouble!<\/p>\n

Some Siberian serf will mistake me
\nfor Ivan the Terrible!<\/p>\n

If our own thoughts betray us,
\nif we can\u2019t be sure they\u2019re ours,
\nhow shall we take our bearings
\nwhen the bear comes with his claws?<\/p>\n

3.
\nI get a call from Vladimir Putin!
\nHe\u2019s worried about my ass-
\nonance!<\/p>\n

He says my con-
\nsonance is fine,
\nbut my ass-
\nonance is worrisome!<\/p>\n

I tell him I\u2019ve never had complaints
\nabout my ass-
\nonance before!<\/p>\n

He says I\u2019ll get Blitzkrieged!<\/em>
\nHe says I\u2019ll get blacklisted!
\nWaPo<\/em> may condemn me!
\n(With Dalton Trumbo and the rest!)<\/p>\n

I tell him it would be an honor!
\nHe guffaws and guffaws!<\/p>\n

4.
\nSpasibo! <\/em>I cry, I have seen the light!
\nI was dialectically wrong!
\nWhat I thought was mine<\/em> was really ours!<\/em><\/p>\n

What did Cervantes say?
\nTranslation is the tapestry\u2019s backside!
\nThe ass of all our thoughts!<\/p>\n

I have written my sweetest lover:
\n\u201cCome, let us hack together!
\nMutual bliss awaiting,
\nwe\u2019ll make a New New World
\nOrder!\u201d<\/p>\n

5.
\nFathers and Sons\u2014forgive me!
\nI have wakened from my stupor.
\n(Vodka-induced, I assure you!)<\/p>\n

How can we fashion a New New World Order
\nwhen we\u2019re walking the plank of language–
\nlost in gradations of meanings?
\nBobbing in ambivalence\u2026.<\/p>\n

6.
\nErratic?
\nWhy must you call me erratic?<\/p>\n

Isn\u2019t it the whirring moonbeams?
\nIsn\u2019t it the whirring drones?<\/p>\n

\u201cFake news\u201d defines my nemesis!
\n\u201cPost-truth\u201d\u2014Armageddon!<\/p>\n

7.
\nWho\u2019s not hacking whom?
\nEvery interaction, touch,
\neach kiss
\nis something like a hack.<\/p>\n

A wink and a nod, and we\u2019re hacked!<\/p>\n

Mellifluous\u2026and wrong\u2026.
\nOur imperceptions imbricate.
\nOur imperceptions nod.<\/p>\n

8.
\n\u201cWhat is truth?\u201d asked Pontius,
\nwashing his ritual hands.<\/p>\n

In virtual reality,
\nwe wash our ritual hands.<\/p>\n

_________________________________________<\/p>\n

Gary Corseri is a member of the<\/em> TRANSCEND Network for Peace, Development and Environment<\/a>. He has published and posted articles, fiction and poems at hundreds of venues, including,<\/em> TMS (Transcend Media Service)<\/a>, The New York Times, Village Voice, Redbook Magazine and<\/em> Counterpunch.\u00a0 He has published 2 novels and 2 collections of poetry, and his dramas have been produced on<\/em> PBS-Atlanta and elsewhere.\u00a0 He has performed his poems at the Carter Presidential Library and Museum and has taught in universities in the US and Japan, and in US public schools and prisons<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dah! It\u2019s true!
\nEvery time I come upon
\nsome clever turn-of-phrase,
\nthey\u2019re in my brain,
\nthey\u2019re at my screen\u2014
\nhacking, hacking, hacking!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[182],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-84025","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry-format"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84025","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84025"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84025\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}