AUTHOR (ALS PRODUZENT, DER) Comments

The era doesn't demand our spirits, comrades
of the Institute for the Study of Fascism:
it demands we move our diaphragms.
For that reason I bring a concrete example
(today the concrete examples are Russian!)
of what a literarily and politically correct
work is. Here you have Comrade Tretiakov.
How does Comrade Tretiakov write?
He attends the Kolkhoz committees
organises collections to buy tractors
he asks all around so as to find out
the best horse collars and sparkplugs
he explains Yakovlev's thesis and calms
the mothers arguing in the nursery
finds mounts for the teachers' travel
inspects reading groups and sends
three, ten, as many letters as needed
to demand a visit from the mobile cinema
he documents minutely sowing and reaping
click click click with his camera everywhere.
Yes, he also writes and publishes reports
in the Moscow newspapers on what's done
and edits the Kolkhoz paper with instructions
on preparing the land and the planned
activities for the Revolution's anniversary.
What? I'm sorry? What's all that got
to do with literature? Ah, literature . . .
But comrades. Can't you understand
that the world can change? What's more:
you fight day after day for change
but demand that literature stays the same?
...
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