Pétaouchenok

Or was it pétaouchnoque?

A word a friend taught me
back in France,
meaning somewhere far away,
nowhere in particular, really,
off the map,
in Siberia perhaps,
bleached away by endless snows.

I’d like to go to Pétaouchenok,
somewhere far away,
anywhere but here, where
the army’ll leave me alone,
and then maybe give up looking for me.

I close my eyes and
make an effort, imagine
silent snow-covered fields,
not a soul in sight.

I open my eyes and I’m still here,
in the same old training shed,
nowhere else,
nowhere new.
But then I ask myself,
why run and hide
when it’s so much better to
stay and live?




- 12 Jan 2008