I prefer syllable tonic lines. So with rhythm and rhyme. But I don’t really like vers libre, “free verse”. Still, depending on which vers lb. For example, Ekaterina Simonova from Yekaterinburg gave me a book of her poems while in Chelyabinsk. I loved them so much that I wrote an entirely laudatory article about them while sitting on the plane. Exactly, involuntarily, without asking, without ordering. However, such free verses with fresh interesting thoughts, new emotions and extraordinary events are rarely encountered. Unfortunately, most often these are incorrectly cut lines without particularly significant content (“I am lonely, bored and gloomy, a snowstorm, a tram is driving down the street”). First of all, it’s not interesting. Architecture without structure, function and tradition, that is, firewood.
But they object to me: “And in the West? It’s been a solid vers pound for a long time!”. First, not so long ago – if it was “constantly”, then only fifty years ago, not so much. Before that, they wrote beautifully with rhyme. But most importantly, the West does not set an example for us in this situation. They have had constitutions there since the 18th century, and from the 13th century if you count the Magna Carta. Universities are often reluctant to remember – from the middle of the 15th century, sixty small universities worked in your damn West, and we had to wait another 300 years for Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov from Kholmogor to reach Moscow. Sometimes it seems that the institutional solidity of life in the West allows and even encourages a kind of relaxation of poetic speech.
Moral: Do not nod to the West for any reason. As the saying goes, “You’re not here.” And of course, “now is not then.”
Or here, for example, notices. Traditional Russian “fu!” When you say so, you will be corrected immediately. They will explain – but in the West, if you accidentally step on the grass while parking or throw an apple core out the window, the old lady on the neighboring balcony will immediately report you to the police and you will be punished. Because order is first and foremost law is law, and in general this old lady acts for the common good which you destroy with your wheels or stud.
I don’t know about the old woman – maybe she’s all over the place from a Western point of view. Although somewhat unappetizing to my liking. But I repeat once again – you are not here. Perhaps the whole point is that the last denunciations in the West were almost at the time of Ferdinand and Isabella, i.e. the 15th-16th. that took place at the turn of the century. I’m talking about reports that have very serious and even fatal consequences for the victim. Perhaps the West has managed to either forget or pause for five centuries.
By the way, no matter how absurd it may seem, denunciations have been officially banned in Nazi Germany since 1934 – because they “destroyed the unity of the German people”. This is probably why the current civil eavesdropping in the West is perceived without the “secret” shyness of the Russians.
Because we Russians, and then the Soviet people, have suffered from censure, probably more than anyone else in the world. Starting almost at the end of the 17th century, with the “word and deed of the monarch”, that is, on charges of an attempt on the life of the tsar (and then – three hundred years later – Comrade Stalin). However, in ancient Russia, a potential whistleblower had a very ruthless but still a filter of denunciation and intimidation. This was the procedural principle, pardon the idiom, “first whip for informant”. The scammer who received the notice was beaten bitterly and for a long time to find out if he was lying in his message? Was there any selfish or other interest here? Then came the clear humanization of justice – however, only in relation to the swindler.
The abundance of notices led to a strange socio-psychological result: reconciliation with informants.
I remember how many years ago I entered the House of Writers, but in the company of several adult children of writers: a kind of movie for children and parents was shown in the afternoon. Then we all sat in a cafe and, under the supervision of our parents, ordered ourselves pies and lemonade, that is, completely alcohol-free. We were 15-17 years old. Of course, in our company we already drank fast, but with the elderly – no, no. Not even beer! The seriousness of Soviet upbringing at that time.
But I’m not talking about that. Suddenly, an old poet sat next to us and during the conversation – the conversation was about old school friends, real childhood friends – and during this lyrical conversation, he points to a gray-haired man. in the corner of the bar and with a strange smile he says:
– But because of this friend of mine, I served in the military for eight years.
We were excited:
– How? What are you! I can’t be!
(The year is 1966, keep in mind).
Says:
– Yeah guys, imagine, he ratted me out. The citizen inspector showed me the criminal complaint. With signature. Yes, I remember the handwriting very well, how many years they sat at the same table.
We just boiled it. We are talking:
“Now let’s kick him in the face!” Or just come and say: “We know you’re an informant and a scoundrel!”
Says:
– Oh guys, why did I tell you all this! Don’t do that! It was a long time ago, everything passed, we already reconciled …
– But how?
– Yes, I mean … – and he said this terrible sentence, even two sentences together: – There was a time when it was not for me to judge him.
What is scary in this sentence? Wait a little.
I know a somewhat similar story. A woman was arrested on the tip of her neighbor. While concluding the case, the inspector said, “You, the citizen, behaved well during the investigation, you were sincere and frank. I will also be honest with you. Your neighbor has filed a criminal complaint against you. He aimed at your room. But I promise you as a communist – he will not understand! I will personally follow. Therefore, complete your tenure and calmly return to your place of registration! This is how everything turned out. The sealed room was waiting for his mistress. And the swindler neighbor communicated with this woman as if nothing had happened. Including borrowed salt and matches.
But here is the case of one of my acquaintances, a relatively young woman who was born strong after the death of Stalin and was not able to catch up with all this horror.
A long time ago, when he was still a student, his parents supposedly arranged for him. “Kinship exchange” (there was such a procedure at that time in the absence of the real estate market). It’s a swap with my own grandma, who has a room in a shared flat. The grandson was already a student and needed at least a living space of his own for his future life. So, the parents registered the grandmother with them, and the granddaughter – in the grandmother’s room. But the grandmother, of course, continued to live in the house, and her granddaughter – at home, with mom and dad.
However, a neighbor in a shared flat, a married young woman filed a criminal complaint with the prosecutor’s office. That there is a “fictitious exchange” and that the registered student does not actually live here and it is necessary to deprive him of his right to housing. Why did he deliver? If successful then, after the death of the grandmother, this room would go to the crook and his family. But the prosecution was with the grandson (they sent a check, and after all, the grandson was in luck, he was sitting at the table and preparing for the test, and the grandmother, this luck, was just visiting her parents).
But I’m not talking about that.
Several years passed. Grandma died. The grandson, who has already graduated from the institute, moved to this room from his parents in a communal apartment. And the neighbor, wanting to seize the living space by means of a denunciation, began to communicate as if nothing had happened, before the payday he asked for a three-ruble note and even a brooch – to go to visit.
You might say: “How immoral these people are! By notice, they tried to take a person’s residence, but it did not work – then let’s be friends! But the accusation of immorality is always a hope for the triumph of morality. Therefore, we can say it another way, more bitterly and harshly: “These people are ‘immoral’ or rather ‘immoral’ if I may say so. They communicate at the ecological level, at the zoological level. A new animal has come to the forest – you need to try to eat it or expel it. It didn’t work out – it means you have to live next to it. ”
You can say and think all kinds of things.
I promised to explain why the phrase “There was such a time, it is not for us to judge them” was terrible. Because this thesis is dangerously universal. Because if it is not for us to judge the informant, it is not for us to judge the person who will deal with him later. And when the grandson asks: “Why are you doing this to my grandfather, he just wrote a letter, shared his thoughts … and you … eh!” – then the poor grandson is answered: “Ah! .. There was a time when it was not for us to judge.”
So it is better not to refer to the West, but to live according to your own mind. In any case, in the field of notices. If possible, in the vers lb field.
The author expresses his personal opinion, which may not coincide with the editors’ position.
Source: Gazeta
