"Letter to Ukraine"

Posted on February 24, 2022

Over on the Words Without Borders magazine site, the editors write:

In recent days, Russia's mobilization of troops to its border with Ukraine has dominated headlines here in the US. What the news doesn't always provide, however, is access to the voices of Ukrainians themselves. We kept this in mind as we compiled the list below . . .

The list begins with Danyil Zadorozhnyi's "Letter to Ukraine," translated from Russian by Isaac Stackhouse Wheeler and Reilly Costigan-Humes.

As the magazine editors point out, this poem concerns itself with questions of migration and belonging -- questions that have become urgent over the past few days.

leaving one country
crossing the border
going out, going into another
mixing up directions, sides, light and twilight
trans[lat/it]ing from kiev to kyiv

Another poem that seems to have taken on new relevance is Lyudmyla Khersonska's "[The whole soldier doesn't suffer,]" translated from Russian by Katherine E. Young. In this reflection on a soldier's plight, the speaker notes that "The whole soldier shrugs off hurt," even as his body crumbles and he faces a "God, who doesn’t protect."

Or, for a love poem that offers a glimpse of ordinary life, try Marjana Savka's “from A Short History of Dance,” translated from Ukrainian by Askold Melnyczuk. The speaker here assures her listener that "we haven't touched,/ yet our breath dances in a common rhythm."

For four more stories and poems from today's Ukraine, visit "Voices from Ukraine" on Words Without Borders -- and join us as we hope for better days ahead.