Science and Sense

We sat in front of her new, second-hand TV.
My Grandmother and I.



We were watching the news,
Having had our tea,
Having had our talk,
Having had our coffee.
All in honour of my 'just dropping in'.


The screen filled with disaster and Boris Yeltsin.
His troops had just stormed the White House.
The Russian Parliament in Moscow,
that is! Or was.
The correspondent was expounding
on how this may be regarded as a defence of democracy,
and Yeltsin's bluish-grey eyes stormed forward below the white hair
along the nose in widescreen.



My brain was stormed by little sparks of exposition:
on Boris in the Brezhnev-era, always the true-red apparatchik,
on Boris in the Andropov-era, always the true-red apparatchik,
on Boris in the Chernenko-era,always the true-red apparatchik;
on how I during the Andropov-era heard about the rebel Mikhael,
on how I during the Andropov-era never heard about the rebel Boris,
on how I during all the eras did not hear about Boris the democrat
- until Mikhael's era was all but over;
on how I read Mikhael's books on glaznost and perestroika
on how I heard Mikhael speak about democracy and disarmament,
on how I saw Mikhael seeking to practise what he preached
- only to see the house tumble, the foundations having rotted away
- and only to reassert his beliefs as a socialist and a democrat;

on how I saw Boris on one of his tanks on the coup's first day,
on how I heard Boris speak Russian nationalism and his own power,
on how I read a book that Boris might have read once
- if he did not trade it for a bottle of vodka; - Boris who
let the Soviet Union be fragmented, but Greater Russia reappear,
let the Soviet constitution be fragmented, but autocracy reappear,
let the Soviet rule be fragmented, but mafia rules reappear,
let the Soviet economy be fragmented, but privilege reappear,
let the censorship be fragmented, but self-censorship reappear,
let the European House be fragmented,but the'near abroad'reappear,
let the peoples be fragmented, but central authority reappear,
let the social cohesiveness be fragmented, but hunger reappear,
let the Market economy fragment, but State Monopolies reappear,
let democracy be fragmented,but nationalists and generals reappear.



Not a word on Chechnya; it was given a free rein then.
As others.
Not a word on Russian assertiveness; they had to assert themselves.
As others.
Not a word on international clout; they should have some.
As others. But no more than others! And with right,not just might!



The exposition was slowly being expounded,
the brainstorm was over and everything falling into place,
when my grandmother turned her head from the televised pictures:
"I don't trust that man -
I don't like the look in his eyes!"
she said.



Then she turned her head back to the screen.
The rest was silence.


2nd Aug 95 Claus Piculell