Poets of Ukraine. Andrei Kostinsky. Translated by Yana Kane

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Poets of Ukraine. Andrei Kostinsky. Translated by Yana Kane

                           the area of the scream
 

the area of the scream

equals the area

of the initial silence

[the scream creates the silence]

[the silence is pregnant with the scream]

for the scream

that lasts

through all eternity

silence

never arrives

as its sound is continuous
___________

“that which evokes the last
silence occurs in silence”
/Faulkner/
 

                           the spider spun pauses
 

the spider spun pauses

composing a cobweb.

fly notes

sounded while they sounded.

the spider ran up

to tap a new note,

strummed with claw-tips

to extract the last sounds,

to shroud her in shadesilk

murmured to her,

apologetic:

I need to live,

feed myself, store provisions.

you flew in here on your own,

no one called you.

but I am grateful

that you made your sound.

I will long remember you,

till the next note, surely.

spiderstaff lines

rasped in the breeze

breathed a new pause.
 

                          clips of bombings…
 
clips of bombings

of a bewildered city

/dotted lines of breath

on repeat/

if only sleep lasted forever—

dreams blend into reality

with the sensation of flying

a crossroads peeled away from itself

searches for footprints

in the sky
 

THE ORIGINALS

                          площадь крика

площадь крика

равна площади

заданной тишины

[крик создает тишину ]

[тишина вынашивает крик]

для крика

звучащего

целую вечность

тишина

не наступает

из-за его непрерывности
______

“то, что вызывает последнее
молчание, совершается в молчанье”
/Фолкнер/
 

                          из пауз паук

из пауз паук

сочинил тенета

ноты мух

звучали пока звучали

так, подбежав к новой ноте,

паук касался её,

перебирал лапками,

извлекал последние звуки,

оплетал паутенью.

что-то ей говорил.

извинялся:

мне надо жить,

кормиться, делать запасы.

ты сама залетела сюда,

тебя никто не звал.

но спасибо тебе,

что ты прозвучала.

я буду долго помнить тебя,

до следующей ноты так точно

паунотный стан

сухо дышал на ветру

новую паузу
 

                          кадры обстрелов…

кадры обстрелов

растерянного города

/пунктиры дыхания

на повторе/

вот бы все время спать –

сны переходят в явь

осязанием полёта

отслоившийся от себя перекрёсток

ищет следы

в небе

_______________________

The translations of tese poems were edited by Bruce Estrig.

About the Author:

Kostinsky
Andrei Kostinsky
Kharkiv, Ukraine

Andrei Kostinsky is a poet and literary editor from Kharkiv, Ukraine. He graduated from the National Law University and the Philosophy Department of Kharkiv State University. Kostinsky’s work has been published in magazines and almanacs, such as 128 LIT, Interpret Magazine, Articulation, Children of Ra, Topos, Berezil, Graphite, Tochka.Zreniya (View.Point), and halftone. He is the author of the books Arrhythmia (2009), Gogol (2012), and Rehearsal of Dawn (2019), among others.

About the Translator:

1. Yana Kane photo cropped 2022 06 26A(1)
Yana Kane
New Jersey, USA

Yana Kane came to the United States as a refugee from the Soviet Union when she was a teenager. She has a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Princeton University and a Ph.D. in Statistics from Cornell University. She is pursuing an MFA in Creative Writing at Fairleigh Dickinson University, where she has been awarded the Baumeister Scholarship.aumeister Scholarship. Her writing appeared in a variety of Russian and English language magazines and anthologies. A bilingual book of her poetry and translations, “Kingfisher/Zimorodok,” was published in 2020. View.Point recognized her poetry translations as among the “Best of 2022.” She won the 2024 RHINO Poetry Translation Prize, was a finalist for the 2025 Gabo Prize for Literature in Translation, was selected for Deep Vellum Best Literary Translations 2025 anthology and nominated for Deep Vellum Best Literary Translations 2026 anthology.

Andrei Kostinsky Андрей Костинский
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