Brodsky And Pushkin Poem by Dmitry Garanin

If Brodsky could have written your poem,
Clearly you are mimicking him.
And if he couldn't have written your poem,
Your poem is no good,
For if your poem were any good,
Brodsky would have written it already.

Pushkin, however in the first case
Couldn't have written your poem.
But this is, to the contrary, good for you,
Because he really wouldn't be able to
Rather than unwilling.

And in the second case Pushkin
Could well have written your poem,
Because he didn't know
That for Brodsky your poem was no good.

But it never comes to anybody's mind
That you are mimicking Pushkin,

Because you are writing like Brodsky.

New York,27 October 2014