White Stockings

The White Stockings were said to be female Baltic snipers, so named by the Russians during the Chechen wars of the 1990s. The story goes that beautiful, blonde women-warriors reminiscent of pagan myths were trained as biathletes-ready to cross miles of rugged terrain and wait patiently for hours upon the cold, barren floor of border-Russian forests/wilderness to assassinate their given targets. The story got a boost when newspapers reported the capture of several female snipers from the Baltics, however, other papers reported that the stories were absolute myth, attributing the creation of these mysterious "mercenaries" to paranoia and convoluted historical facts. Whether or not the White Stockings existed/exist, these poems enter their world. A fictional sniper is the subject of each poem, examining her conscience, perspective, doubts, fears, or determination.