The Haunted
While writing the opening 2 chapters of Part II
of The Idiot in Geneva, Dostoyevsky’s daughter Sofya
developed inflammation of the lungs
& died, aged 2 months.
His second wife Anna Grigoryevna
wrote that he stood in front of
Sofya’s body until it grew cold &
covered her tiny white face & hands
with burning kisses & he “sobbed like a woman.”
Ten years later while working on his masterpiece
The Brothers Karamazov his 3 year old son Alyosha
had an epileptic fit that lasted 12 hours & 40 minutes
and he subsequently horribly died.
Dostoyevsky wept inconsolably
the entire evening on his knees
beside his son’s bed, crushed,
helpless in the notion that Alyosha
had died from a disease that he had
most likely inherited from him.
Despite his grief & his mounting
health & financial worries, Dostoyevsky
picked himself up & toiled relentlessly
on his novel until it was completed,
shortly before his death, aged 59.
The Bigger Picture
I like it
that I have
no goals
that I’m past
my prime
that I’m not
on TicTock
or X
that I don’t
pray to an
imaginary
being
that I hate
the profit
motive in
capitalism
that I don’t
have to work
for a living
anymore.
I truly dig it
that this obsessive
life-long
accumulation
of wealth
of friends
of knowledge
can ALL
be lost
in an instant.
Too Much Coke
I was on another beer
the other bloke was on a pint of vodka
& orange juice.
We talked about growing up
below the tracks in NDG-
of Pinto, Big Larry, Mich, Rocko,
Toe, The Mechanic, Pud & several others.
Most of them now dead
many from enlarged hearts.
Too much coke
He reckoned.
Fucks you up real bad.
Hey Buds, do you remember
that crazy motherfucker
who used to chase us down the dump
when we raided his garden
so we could chuck his tomatoes
at passing cars on the Decarie Expressway?
Pinocello.
Yeah, that's him. What ever happened to the bastard?
He cacked it. Too much fucking coke.
We laugh ourselves stupid, imagining that 80 something psycho
snorting a few solid white lines & then charging at us in full fury!
Bio: George Douglas Anderson is a teacher and writer who lives in Wollongong, Australia. He edits the blog Bold Monkey Review and sometimes adds to the pile. Jump Out of Any Window (Backroom Poetry, UK, 2024) is his latest publication.
