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for Vladimir Vakulenko
Verily I say it happened
in the sky over Ukraine
the red aurora borealis of war
the bioluminescence of blood
on green grass –
like a crimson haze over the massacre
searing and shimmering
for hundreds of our heavenly ones
who knows how many now
hundreds of our heavenly ones
from the bloody battlefields
from our murdered heavenly cities
from our bombed-out theaters
for women and children and the unborn
the Elysium has opened
all hardships have been left on earth
doubts wounds pain stones from the slings stones from the fires
crosses and tombstones from destroyed cemeteries
bricks from ruins iron from reinforced concrete
at the bottom of the sea at the bottom of rivers and lakes
metal and dead butterflies on roadsides
swallows and other dead things
burned clocks and shot monitors
dollys with bullets in their foreheads
playground cars
soiled furniture, ruins of books
on the ground on the floor salt shingles bricks
shattered asphalt
on the roofs at the bottom of the sea rivers and lakes
porcelain and embroidered rushnyks on roadsides
but this Elysium has opened up
and for all our horses dogs and cats
our faithful friends
pets
who took stab wounds, gunshot wounds, chopped wounds
for their homeland and their people’s loved ones
animals were holy innocents
sacredly devoted to their nearest and dearest
in the cozy temples of apartments and homes
virtuous and light-hearted, almost prophets
they gave their lives for love and in love
they have left for their masters
a pure and bright memory, for none of them was a burden
in the measure of fondness and other merits.
Verily I say in the skies above Ukraine
an Elysium has opened up
and has revealed itself everywhere in the world.
red aurora borealis
like the apple of the eye
like the Eye
the lens of Elysium
has shown
to our hundreds of celestials–
who knows how many there are now
our hundreds of celestials
from our bloody battlefields
from our murdered heavenly cities
from our bombed-out theaters
and the women and the children and the unborn –
mothers of their murderers
fathers of their murderers
their murderers’ children
and the unborn
the children of their murderers
the sisters and brothers of their executioners
all over the world.
but especially in Russia
and also
the lens of Elysium
has shown
to all our horses dogs and cats
to our loyal friends
the beloved pets
of our beloveds
mothers of their masters’ murderers
fathers of mtheir masters’ murderers
the children of the masters’ murderers
the sisters and brothers of their masters’ executioners
all over the world.
but especially in Russia
Verily I say, the great wind of the sun has blown
and has torn away the great veil
and now it is revealed
the day will come
and the blood-hot iron of the Elysium will rise up
and the blood-hot iron will stir in our battlefields
and the blood hot iron will sigh in the wounds of the dead and in the wounds of our ruins
and a hundred million Russian mines will wail somewhere in our gardens, in our playgrounds, in our forests
in the meadows between the meadows
and will rise into the boundless abyss of the sky
for verily I say
the bioluminescence of blood
has its price
its truth
its infinite memory.
for Elysium has a special power
the power of love
and the power of vengeance
.
Verily, verily I say
the day will come
and a hundred million Russian mines will fall
hot as blood
on the heads of our murderers
in russia
10-31-2023
Marianna Kijanowska (1973) is a Ukrainian poetess, writer, translator and literary researcher. She is a member of the Ukrainian PEN Center. She is the author of 16 books of poetry, including “Babi Yar. Voices” (2017), “Lightning Meets Water and Wind” (2023), and a book of short prose. Participant in the World Congress of Translators of Polish Literature (2009, 2013, 2017), she was awarded the Honorary Title of Merit for Services to Polish Culture (Zasłużony dla kultury polskiej, 2013). Laureate of the National Shevchenko Prize of Ukraine (2020) as well as of the Zbigniew Herbert International Prize (2022), European Poet of Freedom International Prize (2022), the Sholem Aleichem Prize, etc.
Nina Kossman’s nine books include three books of poems, two books of short stories, an anthology she edited for Oxford University Press, and a novel. Her work has been translated from English into French, Spanish, Greek, Japanese, Hebrew, Persian, Chinese, Russian, Italian, Danish, and Dutch. Her Russian work was published in Russian periodicals in and outside of Russia. She is a recipient of an NEA fellowship, UNESCO/PEN Short Story award, grants from the Onassis Foundation, the Foundation for Hellenic Culture, etc. Her website is https://ninakossman.com/.
Launched in 2012, “Four Centuries” is an international electronic magazine of Russian poetry in translation.
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.
Young readers will love this delightful work of children’s verse by poet William Conelly, accompanied by Nadia Kossman’s imaginative, evocative illustrations.
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.
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.
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)
