Though both of his parents were Party members
they had him secretly baptised in case
Stalin died. They often spoke about
the Doroga Zhizni, the Road of Life,
the ice routes built across Lake Ladoga
each winter, under bombardment, to help
lift the siege of Leningrad. He spent
much of his childhood chasing after rats
in the bombed-out ruins of Peter the Great’s
once imperial city. Perhaps he was
playing at being Ivan the Terrible
routing the Tatars from Crimea.
KEEPING THE ASPIDISTRA FLYING
'CROSSING THE BROOK': J.M.W. TURNER
THE OLD RAPTURES
THE OLD RAPTURES
THE OCCASIONAL JUBILEE