Veronika Prepares to Move to Nebraska

By Mitch Grabois

Veronika, a Soviet poster girl, enters
a beatnik bar
Out in the San Francisco street
car tires in traffic cut cd’s of
chanting Benedictine monks

The bartender reaches under the counter and hands Veronika
false documents
You don’t need these, you know, he says

Though there are no other customers in the bar to witness
she slaps him across the face
I can still beat you up, she says, in a Russian accent
just like when we were kids


Mitch Grabois’ poetry and short fiction has appeared in over seventy literary magazines, most recently The Examined Life, Memoir Journal, and Haggard and Halloo. His novel, Two-Headed Dog was published in April by Dirt e-books, founded by NY agent Gary Heidt. He was born in the Bronx and now lives in Denver.