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Introduction:'A bridge used to be there': Poetry in wartime /John Hennessy and Ostap Kin --Preface:An American prayer for agnostics and atheists /Serhiy Zhadan --To get together and talk -- let's start with what's most difficult --Why do I always talk about church? --So I'll talk about it --Our coach stands in front of us --This is how you stand for a family photo --It's about solitude in the first place --The great poets of sad times --But few things deserve --As if this winter never happened --There's too much politics in everything, just too much --Obviously soccer should be beyond politics --A new orthography --A bridge used to be there, someone recalled --I imagine how birds see it --Smells like big money --Dance, carpenter, until the sun stands --You led the regiments and liberated cities --They buried their son last winter --To know that you still lie beyond a scorched mountain --Until the moon grows --What a strange thing --Here they are--now they don't talk --All day long --In the morning there's almost no one at the stop --Hot summer air --The summer begins --Sunday school --And this summer also comes to an end --For two thousand years humanity has betrayed its geniuses --We've been talking about war for three years --A friend of mine volunteered --We've been talking about war for three years --This is the family they have now --He's been away for two years --Sun, terrace, lots of green --A woman walks down the street --Here's another weird story --On a village street --The ceremony goes over time --But now I know, he says --She's fifteen, sells flowers at the train station --Knights Templar. "In these poems, the poet focuses on daily life during the Russo-Ukrainian war, rendering intimate portraits of the country's residents as they respond to crisis. Zhadan revives and revises the role of the nineteenth-century Romantic bard, one who portrays his community with clarity, preserving its most precious aspects and darkest nuances. The poems investigate questions of home, exile, solitude, love, and religious faith, making vivid the experiences of non-combatants, refugees, soldiers, and veterans. This collection will be of interest to those who study how poetry observes and mirrors the shifts within a country during wartime, and it offers solace as well." -- From back cover
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