**Across the river they're making chocolate

Abstract

**Across the river they're making chocolate Grigori Dashevsky (bio), Ainsley Morse (bio), and Timmy Straw (bio) 1 Across the river they're making chocolate.Out there the river-ice is breaking up.And upriver we're waiting, but for nowno bus comes, only its vacant ghost,a desolate fleshless light flying aheadto the engine's howland the clatter ofthe ad-slates changing.We're not cold, we bide our time.The sky a deeper blue, the burning streetlights. 2 To wait for each new minute as for a ghost,to put on stage-paint for him alone,to powder your face with light––and poorly it sticks,but without it there's nothingto tell you apart: not from the manyfaces—multitudes—but from the lived-through yearswhich, like a star, are distant and weightless as smoke. 3 But from the sweet smoke, the glory of heaven,look up for a moment,tear your eyes awayas from a book:As much as a star has its shiningor a factory its smoke,all things havetheir limit: a book's gilded edgesor a band of cloud. [End Page 18] 4 And turned from weddings not my own, and graves,not waiting for the end, I roseand saw an enormous room, a hall,walls, walls, Moscow, and I asked:where is the light that lit these pages,where is the wind that rustled them like leaves? 5 It's late to be asking: each person is lit bright,thrown open to the right dreamfor the minutes, like pupils widened,unscathed, like smoke or sleep:they fly in, gleam, collect a promise:Remember, remember (take leave of) me. [End Page 19] Grigori Dashevsky In addition to his highly original work as a poet, grigori dashevsky (1964–2013) was a critic, classicist, teacher, and a gifted and ecumenical translator. His afterlife in Russian literary circles is formidable and closely felt. In 2019 a major publisher released a collection of his poems and translations, from which this poem was taken. Ainsley Morse ainsley morse is a translator of Russian, Ukrainian, and former Yugoslav literatures. Her research focuses on the literature and culture of the post-war Soviet period, as well as the avant-garde and children's literature. Timmy Straw timmy straw is a poet, musician, and translator. Their first book of poems is forthcoming from Fonograf Editions. Copyright © 2023 Ainsley Morse and Timmy Straw