Вспять
The hawk's glacial prey
pens its last moments in this
weak calligraphy.
13 January 2018
[For several years now, I have been writing anagram-haiku. The title of this one is in Russian, meaning "Back." It is a honkadori, alluding to the last stanza of Mandelstam's poem "Век" --
И с бессмысленной улыбкой
Вспять глядишь, жесток и слаб,
Словно зверь, когда-то гибкий,
На следы своих же лап.
[And with a senseless smile
You look back, cruel and weak,
Like a once flexible animal,
At your own paw prints.]
"Hawk glacial prey" is an anagram of the third line of my little poem. I liked the way the word 'weak' connected Mandelstam's poem to Elizabeth Bishop's "Questions of Travel." -- and how her "The End of March," too, is distantly evoked.].
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