Parade

Petra was a model for Stalin
turning slow
clockwork pirouettes
in shoes two sizes too small
toes crushed
like a family of mice
in a hatbox.

Arms raised
like a scarab's mandibles
she twisted
beneath a papier maché tractor
wrists and shoulder blades ache-blanched
hot blood gonging in her ears
as the parade moved
slow, tortuously slow,
through Red Square -
a havoc of small anxieties
threaded together
feigning order.