"Radio Sovok" Presents: Maya Angelou Visits SOTW and Reads Decadent Poetry

This week's podcast is a surprise. We had an unannounced visit from the distinguished poet Maya Angelou who volunteered to read some poetry for us. We tried hard to convince her to read some poems by Pushkin and Lermontov but to no avail. She was adamant in her desire to read a poem by a group of unknown poets who go by the name the "Thanksgiving 7." Their poem is no «Я Вас любил …» ("I loved you once ...") by Pushkin but what else can you expect from the decadent soulless West?!

Mrs. Angelou said that her visit was a token of appreciation for everything that "Sovok of the Week" has done for the advancement of poetry. As the podcast is playing, you can conveniently follow along by reading the poem below. As you can tell by the file name of the podcast, it's been sitting on the backburner for a little bit as we were trying to come up with some funny introduction for it. And this is the best we could come up with ...

Feeling Kind of Blue

By the Thanksgiving 7

Performed by Maya Angelou

Feeling kind of blue and those kind of colors

I thought of you but it didn't help.

Leaf-filled gutters, broken branches underfoot,

And the chaff chased around endlessly,

Like fishy pee on my hands.

God, it burns. When will Jesus pour blood on me?

Calamine of Christ, anoint me with

Oil, in unction and the time of peace.

But when I'm not there with him,

I think he goes for long walks with younger women

And short strolls with older boys.

A tepid sea receded on a foam

So hop, clippety clop, hop over the unpainted wagon,

Hoppity, hippity, dippity doo, young fools

Go forth, multiply and smell like poo.

© 2004 "Thanksgiving 7"