A Poem for Anna Akhmatova

When the Lightning Struck

I was bare as my skull
hoping to find refuge in your
words, brain teased to
enlightenment as the pages

struck the clock of Reason.

I feel my blood thicken,
Your writing is so hard,
I am petrified, Akhmatova.
We two are made of storms,
сестра*.


*sister

(from Guerrilla Blues, 2012 © Alessandra Bava)


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