The actor who played a Russian spy on television shared a story with the interviewer,
An anecdote about how he would get into character
On a television program talking about a television program
He said that, during what they still call The Great Patriotic War,
Women spies would embed themselves so deeply into Nazi Germany
That the only way some of them were found out
Was when they gave birth and the pain made them scream in their native language

 Have you ever felt the white fields, what you ran across to escape a past life, barefoot and angry,
The running stitch of conjuring where the bullet entered you and where it left
-Though what it was was never found even when searching the area where you fell for clues-
So sharply in your side like a thorn
That the only way to pull it out
Was to sing to it, so tenderly

Nate Maxson is a writer and performance artist. The author of several collections of poetry including the upcoming Maps To The Vanishing (Finishing Line Press, coming out in 2022), he lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico.