16 Wednesday Jun 2021
Posted in Historical, Observation
Tags
Столыпин, limerick, poem, poetry, Pyotr Arkadyevich Stolypin, Russia, Russian Empire, Russian revolution, Soviet Union
Столыпин
Lenin answered a question — he said:
“Had he lived would have Russia turned red?
Well I doubt it comrade —
No, had Stolypin stayed
He’d have foiled us, so we shot him dead.”
— D.N. O’Brien
16 Tuesday Feb 2021
Posted in Satire
𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐁𝐨𝐥𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐤𝐬?
Who are these Bolsheviks you talk about?
You mean those harmless fools? They don’t scare me!
Those crazy nuts who like to scream and shout?
Who are these Bolsheviks you talk about?
As sure as I’m a Russian, they’ve no clout,
No influence; my comrades all agree!
Who are these Bolsheviks you talk about?
You mean those harmless fools? They don’t scare me!
— D.N. O’Brien
11 Saturday Apr 2020
Posted in Historical, Observation
Tags
Australian poet, Communism, Deaths due to Communism, epigram, poem, poetry, Socialism, Soviet Union
𝐒𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐀𝐧𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐬
The Soviets destroyed nobility;
The savages rose up to take control —
Harnessed the rest to serve futility;
And twenty million was the final toll.
— D.N. O’Brien
08 Monday Oct 2018
Tags
Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn, Australian poet, Deaths in the Gulags, Formal poetry, poem, poetry, Siberia, sonnet, Soviet Union, Soviet Union political prisoners, Spenserian sonnet, The Gulag Archipelago, Trans rights campaigners at Goldsmiths University
A Gulag Holiday!
The Gulags were quite pleasant really, so,
How did A. Solzhenitsyn get it wrong?
The inmates used to frolic in the snow!
They’d celebrate each day with dance and song!
They’d dine on gruel and grilled rats, and grow strong!
Siberia was just the place to be.
Ten years (on average) wasn’t very long –
You got an education – and for free!
But Solzhenitsyn? Not his cup of tea.
Some Russian writers were so hard to please.
Recalcitrants would even try to flee;
But in Siberia you tend to freeze
Out in the open; but, spoilsports were rare.
Most happy campers wish they were still there.
dnobrienpoetry 