We were all dying of the same diseases

 

parade of pipettes

march of syringes

we were all dying of the same diseases

first exchanged experiences

then bullshitted about nazis

compared pills

accounted with antibiotics

 

- WHAT’S THIS WITH YOU BOYS GETTING SICK NOW?

- WHAT ARE THESE WEIRD SPOTS ON YOUR BODY?

 

doctors say jan’s got tuberculosis

john ditched hospital but with his hormones spent

pevzner got back to moscow – finger got ripped off by a mercedes 800 that rushed by

misha – remember misha? – ate some bad soup and died

the splinters in raoul’s leg – sea urchin needles

 

- OH SHIT YOU’VE GOT THE BITES ALL OVER YOU!
- IS IT DEADLY?

 

SCARS:

deep extended on left thigh – fell off the bike in berlin

could easily be taken for a knife wound

on right thigh chunk of flesh ripped off – smacked into a car on skates in new york

scars from cigarettes extinguished on me: at least 2

from police beatings on spine – extended lines like lashes from a whip

growing lump in right nipple under metal

and this red spot on my ass probably will never go away

 

yes we were all dying of the same diseases

bit off the hangnail on the plane – caught an infection

played with the ocean – broke a nail on a reef

rode on the horse around jungles – took a beating on my ass and balls

mosquitoes gnawed me half to death

sleeping sickness: bytes from a tsetse fly

tarantula bit me on the cheek – went out with scabs

ate meat of a possessed ape – same one that howled in the mornings under the windows – in an hour buried burned to hell so it wouldn’t stink

there will be no grave

who fucking needs this shit in a foreign tropical country

 

september 2000, costa rica

Translated from the Russian by Vitaly Chernetsky