публикация в The Los Angeles Review USA 2025

My four new poems in The Los Angeles Review Translated by Yana Kane-Esrig. 
Many thanks to the Editors and Yana and Bruce.




"...the night crawls past her
slowly-slowly
like a viper across black glass.
impressionism of survival
in Kharkiv. " (С)

опубликованы четыре больших стихотворения в переводе Яны Кане. Огромное спасибо, Яна!
пуликация билингва


***
at night, the high-rises of Saltovka
are abandoned cruise liners
drifting in a star-filled ocean;
but I know that in one of them your sister
is hiding on the lowest deck
she’s in the cargo bay with her dog.

an improvisation on the theme of a rocket attack.
listen.
with your elbows.
with the roots of your teeth.
the first strike. prolonged, stretchy
steamrolling crash
waves batter the ship’s hull.
thoughts go spinning fast fast fast
like a neutron star.
she grabs her Yorkie, rushes to the bathroom.
clothespins dangle on a line:
surfers waiting for a big wave.
she dives into her smartphone.
leaps from channel to channel in telegram messenger.
#TLK-Kharkiv, #Discovery, etc. …
“rain, a transparent gecko, creeps down the pane—
only the little paw-pads are visible”
what’s this, poetry?
screw poetry.
and here’s a newsflash: “from belgorod
launched another f*cking rocket”
about 30 seconds left. then, the explosion.
why are there so many tiles here?
can a shard kill?
an earwig crawls down the tiled wall—
elegant in its lacquered gown,
two black blades instead of legs.
when we were kids, we called them “pincers.”
my legs—they won’t get blown off, right?
another explosion, a bit softer.
guinea pigs lose their milk teeth
while still in their mother’s womb.
I wonder if in paradise
I’ll still have teeth
and can chew apples and snickers bars?
“Shevchenkovskij and Kievskij neighborhoods are under attack…”
and here are photos of storms on Jupiter.
it’s pretty. like a spreading virus under a microscope.
“one rocket blew up immediately after launch”
oh, the undersea world; an octopus—looks like
a shaved scrotum
with intelligent eyes
and tentacles. one more wave. explosion.
it turns out, there are planets,
where it rains rubies
and clouds of lead and glass
float by.
here is the latest NASA photo—
Cat's Eye Nebula;
the nebula is gorgeous: a flock of purple jellyfish
overlapping each other like petals.
she sighs. My God.
how frustrating it is to die young
in such fascinating times.
in a world of unimaginable wonders and nightmares.
in a world that’s almost, almost perfect.
it’s unfair. unfair. unfair.

the night crawls past her
slowly-slowly
like a viper across black glass.
impressionism of survival
in Kharkiv.