Rudolf Nureyev
Siberia, teeth chattered
dance; the male form
wraith, and rushes the woman -

Khrushchev signed his death warrant

and teeth chatter, blood curdles, the
line outstretched,

falls
forward
juts toward the angle
of the ankle, and

Margot sleeps nude beside him,
dancing well into her plantation years-
well into the well-worn marriage,
the abuse, Rudolf captures the salt
statues of the prima donnas elliptical,
enchantée, the moiled burden on the
crutch, forward,

then
back again

teeth chatter
Khrushchev
waits, his wanton,
craven for the dead man

ageless,
chattering teeth, form
brunt grunts – struts
stage-wise, gives the man
a title in the dance where
he can never be named

ballerina,
only women
bare the name, stillness
erect, seem to float,

partner

then separate,

teeth chatter,
Margot dreams of the fetus -
now just a shadow of womb
and wonder, dance
through the thick of it,
burn like the web of the wick,

the line
lingers

still, Khrushchev
howls from the uppermost
Russian backdrops of the cold war
of the
war,

the war,

teeth tangle, chatter, the shake
of the knee, the sage of
the boy green, lifts her
high, captivates crowds, goes on,
and on

shattering scenes.