IMPROVISATION #27

MANDELSTAM'S BIRTHDAY
(January 15)

Solitude is my strength
into a body of poetry
not forgetful in its length
for a poet sent
to the slag heaps
suffering the ragged wind
upon a heavily
covering snowy earth
we are remembering
how once Josef Stalin bluntly
ordered the Crimean Tartars
to slip out and go there
Mandelstam still keeps
in our memory
from a distant Russian Gulag
but  any Osip do not despair
in a mood of gentleness
for another generation,
we will not weep
for we have your old portfolio
carried from the 14th station
of your Messianic cross
for those who suffer
handling the Word
as nations are troubling us
by coldly double crossing
the nations
and to take away your rations
for the blackbirds
rising over the cloudy sky
yet are still basking
in funereal torment
is what we are learning
as we comment on
to bless you
celebrating what occurred
one hundred twenty five
years ago
with candles burning
like stars above a shroud
asking for
a dramatic language
in a shout out
from our memory
sending a didactic greeting
and message of love
on your birthday.