Marina Blitshteyn came to the US as a refugee in 1991. She is the author of 4 published or forthcoming chapbooks: Russian for Lovers (Argos Books); Nothing Personal (Bone Bouquet Books); $kill$ (dancing girl press); Sheet Music (Sunnyoutside Press). She works as an adjunct instructor of composition and literature.
The Americans
Philip used to live in a small house like this too,
he said his dad worked a lot growing up—now
they have a reading room that overlooks the garden,
the jacuzzi, the hearth on which they bonfire,
a hammock Philip loves to lounge on in the summer
in between the starbucks runs and the cabin up
in ski country—when I see him he exits his lexus
satisfied, he pays for all the drinks and loves
to talk with me about class issues—you know
it never leaves you, I tell him, even when
you get degrees and hobnob with the elders,
and as hard as I think I climb I know I’ll never
run the country like the others—I’m not
disagreeing with you, he says, and maybe
he gets it because he lived in a small house once like ours