Two wartime poems
by Olena Herasymiuk
Translated from the Ukrainian by Viktoria Ivanenko
I am a poet who writes invisible verses
for my murdered readers
I am standing and reading my new poetry on the stage
of the Mariupol drama theater,
completely destroyed
by the russian missile strike
I am standing on the stage that
no longer exists
it’s not a stage — it’s a mass grave,
under it
buried alive, lie thousands of
men, women, and their children —
the dead, the living, and the unborn
War is the orchestra pit of poetry
And its invisible art resonates
piercing us all with shrapnel
tearing up the bodies of books and the humans who read them
the art of war resonates so loud
no applause could drown it
The music of the art of war
comes from the russian tanks and artillery throats
and my Ukrainian poetry
is a mere song of despair that aspires to be louder
than the explosions of their empire
louder than the threnoses of the massacre
louder than the silence of the dead
louder than the numbness of the living
My poetry aspires to be
louder than the sympathies of the safe world
louder than the silences of citizens in the peaceful continents
where there have been no war for centuries
louder than the quietude of those looking at us from the other side of the border
those enjoying safety on the other side of freedom and looking
at a lost poet who is reading verses on the bombed-out stage
in a city that no longer exists
but is still marked on the maps of the world that is also gone for good now —
all the planet has perished
all the planet has perished in my country —
under the russian air bombs
to the last drop
You are the spectators looking at the stage of the drama theater
in the city of Matiupol
from under the stage, the choir of thousands buried alive in rubble is singing
you are listening to the voices of those I speak common blood language with —
I wear my soul with
I talk my pain through
and you think:
this is the poetry
this is the entertainment
this is a toy one can play with even then
when it is lying in a puddle of blood in the square
of a bombed-out railway station — that was
the only hope to survive
I am standing and reading my new poetry on the stage
of the Mariupol drama theater,
but these are no longer verses
This is the manifestation of a black symphony of genocide
coming through the voice of a Ukrainian poet
It’s the only poetry that can resonate
from the orchestra pit of war
To later be covered in the ashes of silence
***
Wherever you are
Wherever you are reading this poem
STEP
AWAY
FROM THE WINDOW
Right now
At the very moment I am writing this
the air raid siren goes off
And this means
we need to learn
many rules now:
not to video-record the missile defense systems working
not to share these videos
not to make the missile strike places public
not to go out
et cetera
Sorry, but this is how
contemporary Ukrainian poetry runs
I am powerless to change it
even if I tried
The fictionality of art
has spilled over the paper edges:
now the sirens go off
near you as well
Behind every air raid siren there is
a person who pulls the control lever
and it sucks the wind into the throat
and they both howl
for all of us
Wherever you are
Wherever you are reading this poem
CAREFUL
LIE DOWN
Face down
Better cover it with your hands
no need to see this
when at war, one can “see” with ears —
different calibers sound differently
We learn to differentiate among them really fast
until
it still
makes any
sense
Wherever you are
Wherever you are reading this poem
MISSILE STRIKE
EXPLOSION
HOW ARE YOU?
Remember: the lower the silhouette is —
the higher the chances are
May the luck be with you as long as possible
Since sooner or later
everything ends
as does our luck, unfortunately
as all our benefits do
as we all do, in the end
P.S. I am sorry for the shattered windows
this is the coda
The end of such stories
should always stay
open to interpretations
Note from the editor:
Hey there, it’s Kate Tsurkan, editor-in-chief. Literary magazines like Apofenie are able to remain up and running first and foremost thanks to the support of their readers. Please consider becoming a paid member today and helping our community grow.
