Day Nineteen

In our village by the mountain, there lived

A man people called The Wrestler,
It was long ago, when my dad was a kid.
He - The Wrestler - (though not yet named so),
Went to the forest and I can't remember now,
Why he went into the bear hollow.

While he was there the bear returned home,
And to get inside the hollow, the bear

Goes ass-first. Can you imagine?
So the man is there, yes, and
- because he can't get out -
He grabs the bear by the belly!
And she - straight away - Jumps!

Outside,
(The weak spot of the bear is the belly).
So from this day,
He was nicknamed The Wrestler.

A woman, same. She went to the forest,
Alone, because
She could earn a living picking mushrooms.
But coming a bear in front of her, and
Just growling and the lady, her
Blood pressure - you know when you're scared -
And ten days later she died of fright.

My father told me these things. I was
Ten years old, seeing in the newspaper
About some girl who could fly,
I memorised her name, Dora,
And,
Dora's belly grew like a balloon
And she flew!
And she is flying!

That was very frightening, so
You see why I'm scared from the dark,

When my cousin would whisper,

Go to sleep!
Or Baba Duda will take you!
I, covering my face with a blanket.

I too remember everyone talked,
About aliens,
That they are flying all around,
Around.
They took people.

So when my sister and I visited our parents,
In Russia. We travelled the Metro,
Around,
I, looking sideways at my father,
Thinking this is not my dad,
This is an alien.

And so I tell the stories my father told,
But I can't explain in English.
And not so funny