the art of maintaining appearances

i collect the deceased
like the nihilist bazárov.
i have killed one lately
with a puzzling easy
and absolute impunity.

but why did they have
to die? was yevgény
vasílevich more destined
on two hundred pages than
i was in all these years?

i collect the deceased
and put them neatly
on the shelves. that way,
no one will guess that i am
a necrophiliac.