Brighton Beach

Babushka would put on her other face
when she played her old Victrola
and said she was swimming on Swan Lake
as I played with my Matryoshka doll,
the one I named little Nika
that would rattle inside the other
and looked like my Mamushka.

After Babushka would fall asleep
I liked to sing a lullaby
while I pretended to feed them porridge,
and one time I asked Mamushka doll why
every night she would paint her eyes
and go to the porch to turn on the light
when strange men came in from the sea.