Category: Poetry

Poetry
“Child, hold your doll, hold your teddy bear, hold your kitty.” by Marjana Savka

In this poem, on a train winding through a burnt world towards longed-for shelter, an adult pleads to a desperate child to hold their teddy, to not cry.

Poetry
Then Without the Body by Béla Markó

“collapse, rejection, resurrection, / this is what we all longed for, / this broken bread”—Béla Markó, in Anna Bentley’s translation.

Poetry
“my son, so much material’s been delivered to the warehouse” by Iya Kiva

A poem by Ukrainian poet Iya Kiva in Katherine E. Young’s translation.

Poetry
“Later we will have to reinvent the words” by Kateryna Kalytko

In this poem by Kateryna Kalytko the Ukrainian poet rediscovers words, naming objects as a means of self-preservation, entering a shelter of language.

Poetry
Transit by Mária Ferenčuhová

This poem by Slovak poet Mária Ferenčuchová is a hypnotic meditation on the end and rebirth, a chillingly personal image of intimacy.

Poetry
Waning by Lenka Kuhar Daňhelová

A poem by Czech poet Lenka Kuhar Daňhelová in Bob Hýsek’s translation.

Poetry
Admonitions by Lili Hanna Seres

A poem by Hungarian poet Lili Hanna Seres, in Timea Sipos’s translation.

Poetry
Awaiting the Invasion by Oksana Maksymchuk

The speaker describes the sounds and movement of bugs, birds, and nature, while waiting for war, as if they were impervious to human events.

Poetry
To Write About War by Iryna Shuvalova

In this long poem by Ukrainian poet Iryna Shuvalova, language is found empty and ineffective, and the poet still more powerless than before.