POETRY, PROSE, AND POLITICS

Fiction, serious reality, and at times their interaction.

KHABNO

There once was a town called Khabno

in a land still called Ukraine.

My mother lived in Khabno

a very long time ago

when Mom was only eight years old.

Can’t find Khabno on my map.

Renamed Kaganovich for Stalin’s crony born there

when Stalin ruled Soviet Union.

Then the Holocaust.

Our family disappeared.

Khabno’s name changed again

when Stalin died, to what? Who cares?

Then Chernobyl nearby.

Now ghost town,

Wild animals roam there.

No one left for Putin to bomb.

The bittersweet history of Khabno

still lingers in its children

dispersed in many lands.