"josef stalin

could take a joke

as well as

any vodka blooded comrade

all for the sake

of our glorious revolution...

in winter

we'd soak his underwear in water

and run it up the flagpole

trim his moustache

to look like der fuhrer;

use a pen
to draw swastikas on his forehead
while he slept

playfully,

we'd redirect the trains

heading for siberian gulags

to black sea resorts

where prisoners were fed caviar and stroganoff

and subsequently freed

on halloween

josef and the boys

would dress in drag

and do their best impressions

of garbo and bette davis

with disturbing precision

he could channel judy garland

and never miss a dainty step

somewhere over the rainbow

down that yellow brick road

so little is written of his lighter side...

such as his love

for all things pink and lacey

his deep poetic vision

as a patron of the arts

the revisionists

make him out to be

an iron fisted monster

whose heart was made of stone

30 some odd years reduced

to body counts and statistics

without regard

for his deep appreciation

for the finer things in life

as well as death

the low costs of forced labor camps

executing - a job well-done

and setting the stage

for 40 years of cold war

relations only thawed

upon the removal

of his panties flying free

and sovereign

triumphant in their glory

over perma-frosted leningrad"

-dunne
copyright 2006