30 Days of Ukrainian Poetry - Day 23 - "Wagon"

I started Independence Day with my old friend Ukrzaliznytsia, the Ukrainian railway service, to head up to Kyiv for an Independence Day concert from Dakha Brakha and Okean Elzy (check out my "Muscial Postcard from Ukraine" to find some of their songs). While there is much more to tell about today than just the train ride, it was the train ride I was waiting for to share a little poem I found early on in this project and have been saving.

I looked up the poems of Mykhaylo Semenko on a coworker's recommendation, and one of the first ones I found was "Вагон" (Wagon). This is the word used in Ukrainian to refer to a train car; you may be in a first class wagon, a second class wagon, etc. When you board the train you need to know your wagon number. I knew as soon as I read the first line of this short poem that I wanted to share it, but I also wanted to wait until I could read it on a train, so I've shared some of his other poems on Day 3 and Day 19.

Anyone who's traveled by train in Ukraine knows the struggle of the hot, unventilated train cars. Imagine spending 12 hours traveling with 30 other people in a metal box. In all likelihood, almost none of the windows open. If you're lucky, some of them might, but if you try to open one, the second you turn your back somebody will close it again because of a belief that a breeze blowing in through a window will make you sick. So, seeing the first line "a wagon without windows", I knew this little poem was perfect for my fellow travelers. It's nice to know that even famous poets from decades ago share our frustration. 

Ваґон

Михайло Семенко

Ваґон без вікон
подорож прикра
експресить гінко
розбита скрипка

і стиха стежить
хтось із кутка
огидливий нежит
хриплість гудка

Wagon

Mykhaylo Semenko

 

A wagon without windows

This journey sucks.

Expressions of ginkos

A broken violin

And secretly, somebody

Watches from the corner

A disgusting, stuffy nose

The wheezing of a gudok

Note: a gudok is an ancient, East Slavic stringed instrument. Also, I had to totally guess on the third line because I couldn't find this word "експресить" anywhere. If anyone has an idea of how to better translate this line, please let me know!

Fun factoid: I was twice crashed into by somebody coming through the door behind me while filming this.

Cheers to you, Ukrzaliznytsia!