This April, Elaine Feinstein presents her poem, Isaac Babel Riding with Budyonny, based on R.B. Kitaj’s work of the same name. This work is not currently on display in Tate galleries, but Erasmus Variations by the same artist is on display in Tate Britain, and Isaac Babel Riding with Budyonny can be viewed in the Tate Collection online.
The Poetry Society is curating this year’s selection in the organisation’s centenary year. Founded in 1909, the Society is now one of Britain’s most high-profile arts organisations, helping poets and poetry thrive in Britain and beyond. Membership is open to all, though members include many of the UK’s most eminent poets. It publishes the highly respected journal Poetry Review; and also works to deliver a programme of poetry in education, supporting and developing creativity among young people and communities.
Isaac Babel Riding with Budyonny
A swirl of ochre —- then a brighter yellow
ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýfills in the woodcut lines of an alien figure;
another stubby man wears a red scarf:
ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýCarnival colours. What’s the story here?
 This is the euphoria of Revolution:
ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýUkraine in flames, the air a grey smoke.
Ash beneath dark skies. From a horse’s white rump,
ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýthe colours turn in a kaleidoscope.
But where is Babel? Such insolence
ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýfor a myopic Jew —- to ride
alongside Kuban Cossacks into Chagall’s
ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌývillages of dirt-floor shacks.
The Whites have already trashed the stelt.
ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýBabel rides with the Red Cavalry,
shamed by their courage, though they loot and kill.
ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýBystander angel, he records the dying. Â
 Kitaj has sketched a man with a bird’s head,   Â
ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýagainst the scribbled map of a little town,
an image styled after a medieval
ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýHaggadah, telling the story of Passover.
Secrets of a shared family tree:
ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýthe faithful passions of the trapped,
the cheating promises of liberty –
ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýKitaj, like Babel, draws the savagery.