KHLEBNIKOV'S CENTURY

On a daybed
you tell fate
to bullet-bite
after all,
life is Russian roulette.

Writing in a black book
without advice
of gambling notes
the rope or wedding ring
nothing to shame the secret police
or capital punishment
is only a matter of address.

Rising early
on vodka and borscht
in liquid's silence
a gun goes crazy
next revolving door,
what ambient motives
for the reading public
to judge.