Donnie Darko

hard to keep track of screenshots
desktop littered, versions
constant update like nibbling your ear
endless process, grasses of remembrance
you in that man suit
me an unsuspecting rabbit
ears perched like a branch
eyes still against the abbots
interpretation is a pond amid the meadow
compromised and cannot mirror
steps retraced
but never a rite or fordist repetition
without imaginary frankness
i want to see you

by Venya Gushchin

Venya Gushchin is a poet, literary translator, and assistant professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of Southern California. His translation of the Russian-language Kalmyk poet Dordzhi Dzhaldzhireev is forthcoming from World Poetry Books in 2027. His writing has appeared in The Rumpus; Exchanges; Brooklyn Rail; Broken Lens; and elsewhere.