Comrade Kots:
A Poem by Kirill Medvedev

Kirill Medvedev at the Occupy Abay protests in Moscow, Russia, May 2012. Photo courtesy of the artist.

You say to me: Baby, I’m scared

you’re going to get caught up

in the arrests

for the May 6 protest.
 

I say, Look, we’re already in the fire.

There’s nothing else for us to fear.

You’re registered on Maly Kiselny,

We live together on Nizhny Kiselny,

We live in the center of Moscow,

And so does the FSB.

Torture chambers, the old Cheka basements.

The millions, the billions of ruined lives.
 

It must be said, it’s a neat system the Bolsheviks created.

My comrades, my intellectual forebears.

And now it’s run by their distant heirs,

Not iron-willed masters, but pathetic losers.

Shady characters, with shady faces.

Though in their way, not idiots.

And we’re living here with them in this big dormitory

When they see me on the street they say confidently and rudely:
 

Comrade Kots, how’s it going?

Comrade Kots, where you going?

Comrade Kots, why keep this up,

Comrade Kots, comrade Kots,

comrade, comrade, comrade

Kots.
 

I say: Don’t worry, they have nothing on me.

You remember, that was the night we went dancing.

Although you may have seen on Channel One

How I gave that cop a beating, and another one.
 

But still, I don’t think they take marginal people like me.

The whole intelligentsia will rise up to defend me.

The human rights activists and the EU Parliament,

The Estonian Union of Writers, and the Italian Communists.

You see, that’s why they’re afraid of me,

I don’t know why you’re laughing.

I don’t see why you’re crying.

Everything’s fine, everything’s great, I’m free.

We’re sitting in the kitchen, and it’s almost spring outside.

Although all around us, blocks and blocks of FSB…
 

Comrade Kots, how’s it going?

Comrade Kots, where you going?

Comrade Kots, why keep this up,

Comrade Kots, comrade Kots,

comrade, comrade, comrade

Kots.
 

Translated by Keith Gessen
 

Kirill Medvedev’s riot-folk band Arkadiy Kots perform at an Occupy Abay protest in Moscow, 2012.

This piece was made possible, in part, thanks to the generous support of the Trust for Mutual Understanding.