And When I Made This Final Step
And when I made this final step
and fell into the deep pit
my friends stood all around me
at the very edge
and each was holding an assault rifle
carved out of wood
and a handful of soil
warm and dry
and my pleading did not matter anymore
because when the oldest one called
every one of them
executed the tough order
and the massive black rain
was passing through me and into the pit
making breeches in my lungs and ribs
provoking the endless
ragged cough
it was all so real
I could not breath
studying my former brothers in arms’
strict and impartial faces
since I totally forgot
that children could be cruel
when it came to fundamental things
і коли я зробив цей останній крок
і коли я зробив цей останній крок
і впав у яму глибоку
мене обступили друзі
наблизившись до самого краю
і кожен із них тримав у руці автомат
витесаний з дерева
а в іншій мав жменю землі
теплої та сухої
і благання мої вже не мали значення
бо за вигуком старшого
всі як один
виконали суворий наказ
і чорний важкезний дощ
пролітав крізь мене в яму
пробивав наскрізь легені та ребра
здіймав розірваний
нескінченний кашель
усе було так по-справжньому
я задихався
вдивляючись у суворі та справедливі обличчя
вчорашніх братів по зброї
бо ж зовсім забув
що діти бувають жорстокими
коли йдеться про принципові речі
.
Oleksandr Mymruk is a writer, editor, and art & cultural journalist. He is the Head of NGO Chytomo, which promotes literature and readings in Ukraine. He is the author of a poetry book “Tsukrovyk” (2017) and a non-fiction book about famous film director “Oleg Sentsov” (English ed. published in 2018) and the curator and compiler of an online project and book about the history of Ukrainian cultural journalism “Ekzemplyary XX” (2021). His other achievements include the Laureate of the “Smoloskyp Prize,” “The Clay Cat Prize” for the poetry collection “Tsukrovyk” and being the winner and finalist of many literary contests such as: “Urban-perehresya,” “Hayvoronnya,” “Litakcent,” “Matelot,” etc.
Ella Yevtushenko is a poet, translator, and musician from Kyiv. She is the finalist of the “MRP” and “Dictum” poetry contests, laureate of the “Smoloskyp” contest, and participant at literary festivals, Book Arsenal, Ї BookForum, Translatorium, etc. Her first poetry collection Lichtung was published in 2016. In 2020 she founded a solo electronic and poetic project, Thuyone. She is the Co-founder (with Bohdan-Oleh Horobchuk) of the SHCHOHLA art association, which has held more than 20 cultural events, and co-author of the Kulturtrigger YouTube channel.
