Also in Poetry:

243574811_10223256573781609_7360322063454227406_n (1)
Gari Lait. From Those Ravines
От острых восприятий – яркий луч,
он изнутри не посягает на окрестность,
несовершенство облаков и туч,
на подсознании диктовалось с детства.
За год до танков в Праге, и конца
весны, пришедшей за полярной ночью,
мы у родителей случились, образца,
тех, кто был уничтожен среди прочих.
Из первой памяти пришёл порезом Яр,
я и сейчас ищу ответ в его оврагах,
фантомный – пулевых отверстий жар,
порой невыносим в своих зигзагах…
А в целом – генетический багаж —
у нас такой – врагам бы не приснилось,
мы потому не замечаем мелких краж,
что вечно на дороге в Саласпилс.
Экватор не сменил ориентир,
слой облаков всегда лучу уступит,
и кто, кого, зачем и как простил… —
Oтвет из области риторики поступит.
Мы всё же появились, вопреки,
с особым стержнем, ощущения надрыва,
и не изменим предначертанной строки,
чтоб всё у них не вышло с перерывом

 

* * *
A brighter ray of sharp perceptions comes to life—
comes from within, it’s pondering and subtle
such imperfection of the clouds feeds all strife,
subconscious childhood resurfaces to stutter…
The year before Prague witnessed Russian tanks,
apparent spring succumbed to winter’s echo,
our parents braved the cold (so many thanks!).
And we appeared to fill the void of murdered brethren…
First memory brought forth the Babiy Yar
from those ravines I seek the answers even now
my phantom burns from bullet holes don’t get me very far,
the pain excruciating, as I bow…
Our genetic burden overall,
is of the sort one wouldn’t wish as wind on willows,
don’t even notice petty theft at all,
as our thoughts are on the march to Salaspils.
Not much has changed, equator measures still,
yet a brighter ray will always pierce the cloud cover
Who had forgiven, perpetrators, victims will…
Deadlock in rhetoric—there’s nothing to discover.
Yet we appeared—the odds were there to beat,
our core peculiar, on verge of constant tearing
We won’t give up the corner of our street,
Despite attempts of present Goebbels, Hess or Goering

About the Author:

6-25-20_GL in New York_fall 2017 (2) (2) (1)
Gari Lait
Chicago, USA

Gari Light, Born in Kiev, Ukraine in 1967. Lives in the United States since 1980. Graduated from Northwestern University. Became a lawyer some short time after, and worked in the area of international jurisprudence, both in the U.S, and abroad.  Light’s several books of poetry were published in Russian, starting in 1992. His English language poetry book entitled Confluences appeared both in U.S. and in Europe in 2020.  Gari is regularly published in literary magazines and takes part in poetry readings on both sides of the Atlantic.

Gari Lait Гари Лайт
Bookshelf
by Ilya Perelmuter (editor)

Launched in 2012, “Four Centuries” is an international electronic magazine of Russian poetry in translation.

by Ilya Ehrenburg

Ilya Ehrenburg (1891–1967) was one of the most prolific Russian writers of the twentieth century.  Babi Yar and Other Poems, translated by Anna Krushelnitskaya, is a representative selection of Ehrenburg’s poetry, available in English for the first time.

by William Conelly

Young readers will love this delightful work of children’s verse by poet William Conelly, accompanied by Nadia Kossman’s imaginative, evocative illustrations.

by Maria Galina

A book of poems by Maria Galina, put together and completed exactly one day before the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This is Galina’s seventh book of poems. With translations by Anna Halberstadt and Ainsley Morse.

book cover galina 700x500 431792346_806631041304850_1823687868413913719_n
by Aleksandr Kabanov

The first bilingual (Russian-English) collection of poems by Aleksandr Kabanov, one of Ukraine’s major poets, “Elements for God” includes poems that predicted – and now chronicle – Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.

by Yulia Fridman

A book of poems by Yulia Fridman.

“I have been reading Yulia Fridman’s poems for a long time and have admired them for a long time.” (Vladimir Bogomyakov, poet)

Videos
Three Questions. A Documentary by Vita Shtivelman
Play Video
Poetry Reading in Honor of Brodsky’s 81st Birthday
Length: 1:35:40