When you see someone with red hair in America, there tends to be an assumption that they’re Irish-American. We only have that assumption, though, because of how many people in America have Irish ancestry. It doesn’t hold for all other countries; in Russia (until very recently, and even still today), the assumption was that someone with red hair is Jewish. On that note, here’s a short poem by the Russian absurdist Daniil Kharms entitled “Рыжий человек,” or “Red-headed man.”

There once lived a red-headed man who had no eyes or ears.

He had no hair, so he was only called red-headed by convention.

He couldn’t speak, as he had no mouth.

He also had no nose.

He didn’t even have arms or legs.

He had no stomach, no spine, no back, and no internal organs.

He didn’t have anything!

So it’s not clear who we’re talking about.

It’d be best if we didn’t talk about him any more.

Daniil Kharms (tr. Lev Bernstein)

See you all at practice,

Lev Ilyich Bronstein

Secretary, Union of Real Art, 1927-1930