CLAIRE OASA

Pink

She glows like phosphorus
in a puffy pink jacket
magenta corduroys
sparkly sequined clogs

she parts the black tide of
leather pedestrians
scowling militsia
tajiks with gold teeth
they are momentarily blinded
by pink shock

she saunters
wholly absorbed by her
fruity chewing gum
hesitates
before a young man
bowed on a metro stoop
bloody rag seeping
she reaches for my hand
her light
dims

she scoops a handful of kopeks
from her sequined bag
pressing into the gnarled palm
of babushka
crouched on a ventilation grill

her lightning brilliance returns:
a white sword slightly tinged
slicing through the
dark ice, gray mud
spittle, sleeping dogs.
She steps daintily over
the black puddles
leaving no shadow
or smudge