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Masha renounced her father’s bourgeois life 
she and Mishail set up a village school
a school for peasants with heavy clothes and clumsy boots
she treasured getting back to nature for values honest and real
she loved it for a while until
the tepid routine began stifling her imagination 
anger and resentment doubted even Mishail 
she asked herself if her lover is nothing more than a peasant
not a counter-culture hero but simply a laborer 
in Chekhov’s novella My Life
imagine Masha with a tattoo encircling her ankle 
a crown of thorns
how reasonably she argues for freedom
in a letter for divorce
promising eternal gratitude.