Julia Istomina

Sankt Peterburg - Petergorf Log

We lunch at the quality Russian restaurant where they
Serve bear, Ruski Standart, pancakes with red caviar,
Chive, and sour cream, and Cheremsha: garlic
Weeds marinated blatantly to particular Russian taste.

Peter was great in that he sought
To renovate a bearded nation to be more
European – tre chic, cascading gold and
Eight year old boys milling the underground
To run an Alley of Fountains. – notice,

He was both loved and hated: i.e. Monplaisir,
(French, oh so European) where trickery on the prowl
induced skirted, porcelain female guests to tear
their powdered hair fleeting from secret rocks that
spurted the Gulf of Finland in a garden
Dutch coiled and gold, gold shiny gold.

Asians and Americans and Moscovites crowd and
Pant and release sweat from their extremely native glands
In this prism of gold spectrum.

With the Chessboard Hill Cascade standing
Sloped and strange, Alice In Wonderland comes
To mind – also comes to mind aristocratic fashion,
The pressure to outdo, undo the outdated, redo to
Date colossal change in St. Peterburg, later Leningrad ,
Now St. Peterburg , Russia .

Samson arrived stream-lined in victory, Samson
Peter's self-pride, tearing with both hands a blundering
Swedish Lion, while gentle women recoil with draped swans
Always in a locked position of daintiness and tiring femininity.

Now weddings celebrate and are celebrated with
The celestial reckonings – modern women standing taller
Than thin men, ugly and young, attractive and wiser,
They make a solid choice to be in the midst of constant
Flurry – tourism at its peak in the twenty first century,
Wedding photo operations in a huff to get some sort of frame.

We toast many times to each family member, the experience,
My birthday and to each other and to the day, and to tourism and to
Successful travel.

Julia Istomina was born in Russia and moved to the United States in 1990. She explores a variety of themes including her hybrid cultural experience within her poetry, which has appeared in various online and hard-copy journals. She is moving to New York to attend the New School Graduate Writing Program and hopes it will open new avenues for her work as well as uncover other creative minds.