#clm

Fiction
The Joke by Ilka Papp-Zakor

In this sometimes strange and unusual story, by Ilka Papp-Zakor, a practical joke involving a tattoo questions what we can and cannot know.

Poetry
“My God forms battalions all night” by Marjana Savka

In this poem by Ukrainian poet Marjana Savka, we find the call for a realist God who fights, protects, and permits us to not forgive.

Fiction
The Red Light by Maciej Jakubowiak

Polish writer Maciej Jakubowiak reflects on his grandmother’s absolute faith in a red blinking light, in this essay translated by Mark Ordon.

Non-Fiction
Finely Tuned by Árpád Tőzsér

Reflecting on his own poem, Hungarian writer Árpád Tőzsér asks whether we can believe in a Cosmic Orchestra without a conductor?

Non-Fiction
Praise of God in Solitude: A Pianist’s Faith in Life and Death by Jack Kohl

Jack Kohl’s literary essay begins with a simple paradox posed by the pianist’s craft that soon transcends music into mortal and spiritual matters.

Poetry
“On the seventh day of direct observations” by Kateryna Kalytko

In this poem by Kateryna Kalytko, at a time of destruction, the Ukrainian poet marvels at the simplicity and the nobility of language.

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.

Fiction
The Bureaucrat’s Day by Balla

While buying some “superb” illegally produced sausages, a bureaucrat tries to come to terms with the thing that lives in his office.

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.