Peter the Great in a roadside stall outside
   Petrodwaretz
The summer garden all boarded up
And then the coming of the snow
The swan still prim
Strut the catwalk of the Nevsky canal
Poetry is still remembered in intoxicated basements
But European remont touches all
Except sea-gulls
Who still splatter bird shit on the Marina
Lenin is gone but Lenin looks on.

                  

                   *remont: repair and renovation