Odessa 1920

By Ken Goodman

Odessa 1920
Refugees of Odessa and White Army troops trying to flee from the Red Army.

My grandma got out of Odessa
hiding in the hay—
of a wagon into which

soldiers stabbed
pitchforks in—
again & again—

When I sneezed in September
she told me with a grin:
That's why you have hay fever,
from the fear I felt when they—
stuck pitchforks in the hay.