Gorky Park, 1965

Rowboats ride low on a pond
in the foreground, three pairs of oars
abruptly motionless, all at the same angle.
Each tiny craft carries two or three
Muscovites hunched against the familiar
chill, inured to moving in unison.
There’s a customary Soviet queue
in the background, not for bread or cabbage,
but for a Ferris wheel that hesitates
above the park against a pale blue sky.
Only the trees let on it’s Spring.