Today’s choice
Previous poems
Stephen Komarnyckyj
It is smell that forgets us last
even if we would forget ourselves
Babusyu your coffin laid on the frost I was not there
Odourless and tasteless you are as water
I can never grip however much I look at the photo
Laid on your back you are the shadow slipping through the mirror
The rim of bronze light at dawn on the tundra
My father’s letter found after his death
Milk and fresh baked bread the pine boards of your house
The spun yellow silk of your head the salt tears I will never taste
Not knowing loss, for you were always lost.
Stephen Komarnyckyj’s literary translations and poems have appeared in Index on Censorship, Modern Poetry in Translation and many other journals. He is the holder of two PEN awards and a highly regarded English language poet whose work has been described as articulating “what it means to be human” (Sean Street). He runs Kalyna Language Press which publishes his own poetry and translations and has taught at The Poetry School and translated a series of Ukrainian poets and their blogs for The Poetry School site under the title Stanzas for Ukraine
Julia Webb
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Abbi Parcell
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Andrew McDonnell
Andrew McDonnell writes poetry and short fiction. His debut collection The Somnambulist Cookbook (Salt) was published in 2019. He lives in Norwich but works in Peterborough to ensure a long commute in which he can write things that are not emails. ...