On Monday 1 October, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alyokhina and Yekaterina Samutsevich – the three members of Russian punk rock band Pussy Riot currently detained on charges of ‘hooliganism motivated by religious hatred’ – returned to court in Moscow for their appeal hearing. However, following an apparent disagreement between Samutsevich and her lawyer, the appeal against their two-year sentence has now been postponed until next Wednesday, 10 October.
In order to help maintain awareness of their case ahead of Monday’s hearing, we have been posting daily tributes to the band in the form of some extraordinary poems and images on our website. These pieces and many more were published in an e-book collection CATECHISM: POEMS FOR PUSSY RIOT to coincide with Monday’s hearing. Ahead of the next appeal hearing on Wednesday 10 October we will continue to post more poems from the collection, as well as the Russian translations. Please help us keep their case in the public eye by downloading, reading, sharing, tweeting, translating and remixing the amazing work by our Poets for Pussy Riot.
The following contribution comes from Theodoros Chiotis and is translated by Jennifer Wilson.
Pussy Frankenstein
Bless this twenty four-eye machine
chanting:
‘What man dare,
I dare.’
Guitar chords,
breastbones of kingfishers & jays are
its defence mechanisms.
The totem transubstantiates into balaclavas
in this mythology of face:
soldier-warriors chant.
We are going viral.
Like certain Amazon tribes
we have only three numbers:
‘one,’ ‘two’ &
‘many.’ You will find out soon enough.
Пусси франкенштейн
Благословите эту машину двацадти четерых глаз
Которая воспевает:
«О чем мужчины смеют,
я смею.»
гитарные аккорды
грудины ментициррусов и сойк –
его защитныe механизмы
этот тотем становится балаклавами
в этой мифологии лица:
солдат-войны воспевают.
Мы все распространяемся как зараза.
Kaк некие племена Амазона
у нас все лишь 3 числа
«один», «два,» и
«много.» Вы скоро узнаете.
