Pussy Riots or Ailurophobia in Russian Life

The conviction of the three members of feminist Russian collective Pussy Riot is a disgrace and a challenge to feminism worldwide. It is also yet another attack on secularism, free speech and the rights of the artist.
Ailurophobia is the irrational fear of pussies. Or cats.

Three of the cats who stood

Iconoclastic in their ritual,

Worshipping at the alter

Of free speech, and expression,

Obscenely repressed by

The powers that be;

Three of these pussies

Are to be caged,

Declawed and toothless

In a system long decayed.

Trolleybusses and scaffolds

Are ok, it seems, for girls

In balaclavas or women shouting

The odds, but not a church,

Oh no, women’s voices should not

Be raised in a church.

It’s nothing to do with politics you understand

-it is their bold bad lack of respect for Him.
(not him, Putin, but the other

God of Russian politics.)

Burn your flags, my lovelies,

Far far better than fiery bras.

Bite back, shout and torch the churches,

Roast them on a spit of lampoon –

There is no place for the feminine divine

Among the patriarchs of Russian life.

Three cats jailed by frightened men

and an apathetic nation, still the Party’s bitch.

Come! Let’s be Hooligans, all, and light the way.

Start by saying, today, I am Pussy Riot.

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