Also in Poetry:

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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:

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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
1. cover for EWLF Sept. 11 2024. FINAL BOOK_cover Opravdanie martyshki (1)
by Nina Kossman

“Monkey’s Excuse” is a collection of short stories and parables by Nina Kossman, bilingual author of eight books of poetry and prose, compiler of the anthology “Gods and Mortals” (Oxford University Press), artist, and translator of Tsvetaeva’s poems into English.

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by Boris Kokotov

This collection includes poems written in 2020-2023.  (Russian edition)

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by Marina Eskin (Eskina)

“The Lingering Twilight” (“Сумерки”) is Marina Eskin’s fifth book of poems. (Russian edition)

700x500 Picture Fiour Centuries
by Ilya Perelmuter (editor)

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

behind_the_border-cover
by Nina Kossman

A collection of moving, often funny vignettes about a childhood spent in the Soviet Union.

“Vivid picture of life behind the Iron Curtain.” —Booklist
“This unique book will serve to promote discussions of freedom.” —School Library Journal

book cover galina 700x500 431792346_806631041304850_1823687868413913719_n
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.

Videos
Three Questions. A Documentary by Vita Shtivelman
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Poetry Reading in Honor of Brodsky’s 81st Birthday
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