Alphabets
John McKernan
During the days and nights
Of Lenin and Stalin
Russian poets wrote
In pencil
Not in the Cyrillic alphabet
But the Greek alphabet
On tiny sheets
Of cigarette paper
The record was six poems
On both sides
Small the vowels & consonants
Heavy the weight Heavier
Than a hammer and a sickle
Fabricated from a panzer tank
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John McKernan, who grew up in Omaha, Nebraska, is now retired after teaching 41 years at Marshall University. He lives—most of the year—in West Virginia, where he edits for ABZ Press. His most recent book is a book of selected poems, Resurrection of the Dust. He has published poems in The Atlantic Monthly, The Paris Review, The New Yorker, Virginia Quarterly Review, The Journal, Antioch Review, Guernica, Field and many other magazines.