30 Days of Ukrainian Poetry - Day 28 - "Another"

Day 28 brings us another contemporary Ukrainian poet, and interestingly, one who has mostly stayed near to his native town, Kalush, rather than making the pilgrimage to Kyiv like so many others.

Growing up in what were still Soviet times, Yuriy Izdryk naturally worked for a while at a factory as an engineer. However, he had also started writing poetry in his teens, first in Russian and then in Ukrainian. In the same year that I was born, 1989, he started the journal "Chetver" (Thursday), for which he soon found a collaborator, Yuriy Andrukhovych. The two Yuriys served as co-editors, and had about them a small team for the journal, which ran until 2008. They published works mostly affiliated with what is called the "Stanislavsky Phenomenon", a post-modernist movement based in the western city of Ivano-Frankivsk.

(Remember who Ivano-Frankisvk is named after? Check back to Day 17 for a reminder)

 Apparently, some critics thought that Yuriy Izdryk didn't exist, and was just a pseudonym for Yuriy Andrukhovych. Interesting that in today's poem, Yuriy Izdryk brings up the idea that you need others around to you testify that you are real - that you exist.

Інший

Юрій Іздрик

людина сама нічого не може
людині завжди потрібен інший
на кого можна себе помножити
для кого варто писати вірші
з ким можна разом долати відчай
чи радість ділити не ризикуючи
хто може в будь-яку мить засвідчити
що ти – реальний що ти – існуєш
людина ж бо в себе не надто вірить
все свідка для себе шукає якогось
нема людини – спіймає звіра
не зловить звіра – віднайде бога
не знайде бога – візьме люстерко
та навіть там себе не впізнає
бо в сóбі бачить обличчя смерті
й не розуміє що смерті немає..
людина сама нічого не може –
ні народитись ні вмерти тихо
побудь же іншим мені мій боже
постій поблизу…
помовч…
подихай…

Another

Yuriy Izdryk

a person alone cannot do anything
a person always needs another
in whom they can multiply themselves
for whom it's worth writing verses
with whom they can together overcome despair
or share joy without risking
who can in any instant testify
that you are real - that you exist
a person does not much believe in themselves
they all look for a witness to their being
if there's not another person - catch a creature
not catching a creature, find God
not finding God - grab a mirror
and even there you won't recognize yourself
for in yourself you see the face of death
and you don't realize that death doesn't exist
a person alone cannot do anything
cannot be born, cannot quietly die
be to me, o God, that other
stand near me
quiet
and breathe 

I unfortunately got the title wrong in the video, as I was given this poem on a printout that included the text but no title. I figured it, like many poems with no given title, just used the first line as its name - but then when I searched for this poem online, I found out that there is, indeed, a title, and I like it quite a lot.

I haven't been able to locate any other readings of today's poem, but with Yuriy being a contemporary and living poet, there are plenty of videos of him reading his own verses. The one below is called, "This Time", and even though many of my friends won't understand the words, it's worth it to see the face and hear the voice of today's poet.

The content of this blog expresses my views alone and not those of the Peace Corps or any other entity.