I see your thumb pointing towards the North, Putin
like the scepter of Zeus its cravings are for nuggets of peace
shrouded in cloaks of power
in stern obeisance to the regimen of your ploys
I smoke the tobacco of history, the Marlboro’s of renaissance
& I ask, lo! who is Stalin?
you, the magus of the bermuda triangle
you, the god that thirsts for blood of incendiaries
the west knows not the riddle to the pulse of your kind
Putin! here i am with my gourd filled with mercies of encomiums,
pouring libation, platitudes, on the street of moscow,
asking, again & again, who is Stalin?
~Olajide Vincent Ajise
Lagos, Nigeria