The Frontier

An Anthology (A Bilingual Edition)

Anatoly Kudryavitsky

• Publisher: Glagoslav Publications B.V. (N)
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9781911414483
• eBook ISBN: 9781911414506
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Poetry
• Index: Literature

This anthology reflects a search of the Ukrainian nation for its identity, the roots of which lie deep inside Ukrainian-language poetry. Some of the included poets are well-known locally and internationally; among them are Serhiy Zhadan, Halyna Kruk, Ostap Slyvynsky, Marianna Kijanowska, Oleh Kotsarev, Anna Bagriana and, of course, the living legend of Ukrainian poetry, Vasyl Holoborodko.

The next Ukrainian poetic generation also features prominently in the collection. Such poets as Les Beley, Olena Herasymyuk, Myroslav Laiuk, Hanna Malihon, Taras Malkovych, Julia Musakovska, Julia Stakhivska and Lyuba Yakimchuk are the ones Ukrainians like to read today, and each of them already has an excellent reputation abroad due to festival appearances and translations to European languages.

The work collected here documents poetry in Ukraine responding to challenges of the time by forging a radical new poetic, reconsidering writing techniques and language itself. Edited and translated from the Ukrainian by Anatoly Kudryavitsky.

The Frontier

HALYNA BABAK

Halyna Babak was born in Kharkiv in 1988. Having graduated from Kharkiv State University, where she studied the Ukrainian language and literature, she worked as an arts facilitator. She is currently studying for a PhD at the University of Prague in the Czech Republic. Her first collection, I Love Green, was published in 2007; her second, From Clay and Water, in 2011.

A Puddle

Contemplating where we come from,

I stepped into a puddle

that wanted to swallow my boot.

A puddle, a boot and I . . .

what kind of connection can there be?

---

Except that some puddles harbour sparkling stars . . .

---

Contemplating what a puddle is,

I stepped into my inner self.

The Way Up

prickly grass was on fire

the road to inner self

seemed easy and salty

we yearned for a handful of heaven

the sky fell at our feet as rain

we were pondering ourselves

and listening aloud

there was no fear in us

the wind ran its long fingers through our hair

soaring birds gained height –

but when we arrived

we didn’t recognise ourselves

Silence and a Jug

Corporeality has dimensions of time and space.

Although an everyday woman doesn’t think of it

every time she takes a jug

to fetch water.

For silence and water

erase lines

on the body of the jug

left by Creator’s hand.

Although the everyday woman doesn’t think of it

every time she lifts the jug

and drinks water.

---

For her hand is both time and space.

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Table of contents

• Copyright
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• The Frontier
• Thank you for purchasing this book
• Glagoslav Publications Catalogue