Tag Archives: Writings

WORDS LIVE ON // Hennadii Havryliv

Down through the ages, Russia has tried to kill the Ukrainian identity. They have done everything to present Ukraine as the rural outskirts of the ‘great, educated and advanced’ Russian empire. But the ones who proclaimed themselves enlighteners were merely butchers, murderers. They did everything they could to erase Ukrainian culture, traditions, and even the Ukrainian language itself.

And they are still doing this, even now, literally. During the last eleven years of war, Russia has killed hundreds of people of literature. Writers, poets, translators, editors, publishers and librarians. Ukrainian men and women. As you read these words, others are left to disappear in an unread draft forever.

There is a project called ‘Nedopysani‘ (‘Unfinished‘ in English). It’s a memorial site for people of literature who will never be able to put that final dot in their notebook, who will never be able to take into their hands their first published book. And so, this is our hard and painful mission. This is what we must do for them. It is inevitable.

Today, we present the first instalment of our new translation series, ‘Words Live On’. We have done our best, and we hope that it will speak to our Dear Readers in a way that cold, clinical war statistics cannot.

Glory to Ukraine! To our heroes — glory!

we all will die
so it seems, that life has no meaning.

all meaning is in us, in a human head.
we set the vector of meaning on our own.

that’s why we invented a god.

based in
our image and after our likeness.
by ourselves
in ourselves

but i assure you
living – mandatory

ми всі помрем
і схоже, що у житті нема сенсу.

усі сенси у нас, в людській голові.
ми самі задаєм вектор смислу.

тому і придумали бога.

на основі
образу і подобі.
самі по собі
з себе

але запевняю
жити – треба

Original poem by HENNADII HAVRYLIV
Translation by TETIANA ALEKSINA
© All rights reserved 2025

we were glossolalian

did you know this song was written for you
for my halves both & what we heathen were
we didn’t need always hold us inside
for three to abide
each breath’s suppression of rising horror
foretold our last for to rot in our shells
still in these spaces we let love abide
while we could abide

& the treetops swayed throughout all our days
now their roots reach down into our decay
the nourishment of our fading in dirt
& the love inside
all dogmas & empty puffery spent
& the former lives we laid wreaths upon
enkindled to the last our chosen tongue
tra la la, tra la la
tra la la la la
tra la la

did you know this song was chiselled in clay
each note an impression of quelled dismay
a triptych of anthems named for the day
for three to abide
all we wanted was renewal here now
clear hearts to drum away the chill of now
for to see we three through to noonday stride
while we could abide

& the treetops swayed throughout all our days
now their roots reach down into our decay
the nourishment of our fading in dirt
& the love inside
all the blue grey craters of the moon say
there’s no man in the sky or dreams to weigh
just enkindled nullifidian tongues
tra la la, tra la la
tra la la la la
tra la la

& here in the earth we three will abide
tra la la, tra la la
tra la la la la
tra la la
treetops unearthing the love deep inside
tra la la, tra la la
tra la la la la
tra la la

tra la la, tra la la
tra la la la la
tra la la
tra la la, tra la la
tra la la la la
tra la la

by TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2025

lex naturalis nihilis

the peroni virus takes the stand
as the judge takes his gavel in hand
the jury, petty, looks real confused
the face of the prosecutor bland

one wonders how it’s come down to this
a court room in a state less than bliss
they all look over at the accused
who waves to the press, then blows a kiss

& that’s the point where everyone dies
thrashing as they bleed from nose & eyes
the peroni virus takes its hat
& bids to all a pleasant goodbye

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2024

dignity

my life has value
more than your godish rainbows
& your dogma trees

we love who we are
if it’s all the same to you
this ain’t your babel
the stormfront at your table
don’t you know, is all on you

know the breath in me
blow a kinder rainbow on my cheek
show my life respect

by TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2024

TATI’s AND TONY’s DEAD POET TOUR // Full of Life, Now by Walt Whitman

Full of life, now, compact, visible,
I, forty years old the Eighty-third Year of The States,
To one a century hence, or any number of centuries hence,
To you, yet unborn, these, seeking you.

When you read these, I, that was visible, am become invisible;
Now it is you, compact, visible, realizing my poems, seeking me;
Fancying how happy you were, if I could be with you, and become your comrade;
Be it as if I were with you. (Be not too certain but I am now with you.)

by WALT WHITMAN (1819-1892)
Public Domain Poetry