Distant Relative by Yevgeny Yevtushenko. Short summary

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A distant relative unexpectedly came to a Muscovite and asked her to spend the night. And the landlady has a bohemian crowd, in front of whom she is ashamed of an old provincial woman.

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A woman from a provincial town comes to Moscow for shopping. In the evening she visits her distant relative, a Muscovite, to spend the night and then go home in the morning. The Muscovite has guests — the cream of society — in front of whom she is embarrassed by her provincial aunt.

«Aunt Marusya,» the Muscovite introduces her relative. The company had a bohemian conversation «about the Fellinisms and the Coppolisms,» about Fellini and Bertolucci. A producer from London was also a guest, and when the interpreter could not translate a phrase, Aunt Marusya easily suggested it. It turns out that she teaches English in Oryol. When the interpreter began to say that the famous Oryol trotters were named after the city, the relative corrected him again. The trotters were named after Count Orlov. The mistress corrects herself and starts fawning over the old woman.

At the end of the poem, the author argues that «we used to consider the ponderous
Forgotten distant relative conscience, and honor — the seventh water on the lake.