Alphabet City

Tearing down statues,
creating cultural amnesia,
only guarantees that the toppled
will rear their bronze heads once again 
within three generations

Do not fear the past, no matter how hateful
it is; learn from it, brace against its recurrence, 
point to it shamefully - with disgust - when you must, 
but never erase its lessons

Don't sell short against those with patience
for the long haul

You must know, and your children must know,
paths we have already been down, those where
the thicket is dense, disallows light, air to breathe

You will better know The Way
that leads to quiet pasture

Want to do something meaningful?
Go topple a regime for real, if you've the balls.

cc: Chagall, Topplers
2022

“Why does Ukraine matter?”

How the independent, sovereign, democratic nation of Ukraine ranks:
1st in Europe in proven recoverable reserves of uranium ores;
2nd place in Europe and 10th place in the world in terms of titanium ore reserves;
2nd place in the world in terms of explored reserves of manganese ores (2.3 billion tons, or 12% of the world's reserves);
2nd largest iron ore reserves in the world (30 billion tons);
2nd place in Europe in terms of mercury ore reserves;
3rd place in Europe (13th place in the world) in shale gas reserves (22 trillion cubic meters)
4th in the world by the total value of natural resources;
7th place in the world in coal reserves (33.9 billion tons)

Ukraine is an agricultural country:
1st in Europe in terms of arable land area;
3rd place in the world by the area of black soil (25% of world's volume);
1st place in the world in exports of sunflower and sunflower oil;
2nd place in the world in barley production and 4th place in barley exports;
3rd largest producer and 4th largest exporter of corn in the world;
4th largest producer of potatoes in the world;
5th largest rye producer in the world;
5th place in the world in bee production (75,000 tons);
8th place in the world in wheat exports;
9th place in the world in the production of chicken eggs;
16th place in the world in cheese exports.

Ukraine can meet the food needs of 600 million people.

Ukraine is an industrialized country:
1st in Europe in ammonia production;
2-е Europe's and 4th largest natural gas pipeline system in the world (142.5 bln cubic meters of gas throughput capacity in the EU);
3rd largest in Europe and 8th largest in the world in terms of installed capacity of nuclear power plants;
3rd place in Europe and 11th in the world in terms of rail network length (21,700 km);
3rd place in the world (after the U.S. and France) in production of locators and locating equipment;
3rd largest iron exporter in the world
4th largest exporter of turbines for nuclear power plants in the world;
4th world's largest manufacturer of rocket launchers;
4th place in the world in clay exports
4th place in the world in titanium exports
8th place in the world in exports of ores and concentrates;
9th place in the world in exports of defence industry products;
10th largest steel producer in the world (32.4 million tons).

Source: Andriy Futey
Ukrainian Congress Committee of America Ukrainian World Congress - Свiтовий Конґрес Українців

I do
try hard to
like your writing, 
sorry for not biting,
it's not your timing, 
maybe try not rhyming
at all

cc: Chagall, Whitman, Pound, Eliot, Blake, Dickinson, cummings, Williams, 
Ginsberg, Hughes, Stevens

A book can burn only once,
but ideas are inflammable

cc: Chagall, Guy Montag, Professor Faber
1953

Stalin believed that Ukrainian peasants were just lazy,
and the starving millions were whining just to spite him.

Kaganovich reassured Stalin that talk of Ukrainians as
"innocent victims" was just a "rotten cover-up."

Stalin had worked out, at least to his own satisfaction, 
a connection between starvation and Ukrainian disloyalty.

In his mind, it was the Ukrainian farmers and their families,
not him, who were using starvation as a weapon.

The truth:
lack of seed grain, which had been exported to fill quota, 
meaning no future crop, late sowing, poor weather, 
machinery insufficient to replace animal
labor, weakened citizenry, zero food

cc: Chagall, Viacheslav Molotov, Lazar Kaganovich,
bcc: Eva, Mikhail
1931

citations and footnotes available upon request

cc: Chagall, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, Eva Bachor, Michael Sokach
2022

“Ukrainians squandered not only everything we gave them 
during the [Soviet Union] but even everything they inherited 
from the Russian Empire, even the work created by 
Catherine the Great,” Putin said.

This man is more out of his fucking mind than I originally thought.

I am motivated here and now to recite the history of the region over the 
last 200 years, and place it on infinite scroll for others to bear witness.

Squandered!? You son of a bitch.  Tell that to the 14 million you and your 
predecessors starved to death, and murdered for quota, in the last 100 years.  
About the rest of the holocaust that took place in the villages and forests.

Regarding Catherine, I wouldn't trade a single Kossack hetman, or
a single Galician Queen, for thousands of Catherines, and whatever
work you think she accomplished for Ukrainians.

A sad day.  And I am certain that there are many ignorant out there
who have no appreciation of the history of the area, except for the news
of the last few years.

You can't take back what wasn't fucking yours to begin with.

cc: Chagall, God
2022

Don't get fooled
yet again, neither
the near and long,
nor the mid terms;
you cannot un-unfurl
the banner once
it's been draped, 
cinched, tied down

A change of heart 
does not occur overnight,
but appeasement comes
and goes every moment,
every day

find your center;
dwell there

cc: Chagall, Team Leaders
bcc: Daltrey, Townshend
2022

Though I did not inherit your surname,
and I regret that those who did, did not
live on, I take from you Love to be free,
that precious right to exist without fear

I will perpetuate the line, propagate
the species of untethered ideas, for what 
does it matter that She was my forebear

Today I christen myself
the rightful heir to your sky,
to the wind you leave us

cc: Chagall, Mikhail
2022

Frankly, it's those of us today 
who are not crying, who need
some medication

cc: Chagall, Dr. Leakey, Dr. Leary, 2022