Jonathan Jones lives and works in Rome where he teaches English and American literature at John Cabot University.

Jonathan Jones

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encounter Dostoevsky

At forty five I encounter Dostoevsky.
Grey and humid in Moscow moist with rage.
Prostitutes lining the streets to kill an hour or two.
Fyodor was early even if I was late. Sat on a bench
with a face of ruined suede. I don't remember
meeting him before. It was my old way of looking
at the world. Not people. Many of my friends
had known him formerly. Their faces I had lost
touch with over the years or turned my back on.
And there was Dostoevsky and what appeared
to be the entire explanation of the human condition.
That could have been embarrassing. How does one
make up for lost time when the books are so numerous
in a cramped room paying too much rent
at the age of seventeen thinking I had read
so much more.