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Elena Egorenkova Raklev

@elegowrites

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Elena Egorenkova Raklev. Poet writer reader and more/ Amazon: Roots in a Handbag - the Stories of Maria and Olga/ egorenkova.dk/Substack @elenaraklev

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3 days ago

Each season has its highs.
Now autumn's chorus line
Gets dressed in golden gowns,
Applies make-up in haste,
Not one to spare the reds.

#Poetryofinstagram #poetryislife #multilingualpoetry #WriterLife by @elegowrites

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9 days ago

Summer does not want to leave as yet,
Even though it knows Autumn is already standing by.
Yet, as a proud and skilful coquette it is,
It puts forward its best colours and vistas,
It raises its head to the sun,
Hoping that its artful show will bear as long as possible.

#Copenhagen #writerlife #poetryoﬁnstagram by @elegowrites

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13 days ago

A day that leaves,
A soul that dies a little.
A moment when breathings of the heart
Rise and swim
In quiet evening's waters.

#poetryoﬁnstagram #poetryislife #Writerlife by @elegowrites

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16 days ago

Our life happens
In the pause between sunlight and darkness,
Between glow and shadow,
Between plenitude and vacuum.

On this precarious balance
Between what is and what is meant to be,
We oscillate, unsure,
If we can ever break free.

And yet, this little stretch,
Holds so much within,
A vast, generous promise
Of paths still unknown and unseen.

Photograph taken yesterday.
Poem written today.

© Elena Egorenkova Raklev, 2026

#LoveOfPoetry #PoetryLovers #poetryoﬁnstagram #LoveOfWriting #WriterLife by @elegowrites

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23 days ago

Happiness floats in clear waters
Joy is reborn out of shadows
Light is rising again
And this soul
Wants to flood the world
With its gratitude

#Loveofpoetry #Copenhagensummer #writerlife by @elegowrites

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a month ago

A summer evening - great Italian wine, French reading and peace🌿 taken in Stefanos Østerbro by @elegowrites

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2 months ago

A personal reflection out of Paris.✒️📃

We offer our glory to the skies, we pray and we beg.
The skies acquiesce and swallow, telling us little in return.
And yet, without their enveloping presence, there would be no prayer, no inspiration and no hope.

#WriterLife #Paris #LoveOfWriting #HistoryAndArt by @elegowrites

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2 months ago

Oh, Paris. Today, tomorrow and forever.

“He who contemplates the depths of Paris is seized with vertigo. Nothing is more fantastic. Nothing is more tragic. Nothing is more sublime.”
Victor Hugo

He was - and is - so right.

#WriterLife #Paris #LoveOfWriting taken in Basilique du Sacré-Cœur de Montmartre by @elegowrites

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2 months ago

Back at one of my favourite spots in Paris, now with some indulgence. taken in Café de La Paix by @elegowrites

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2 months ago

The sounds of old Harbin.

These are some of the street cries remembered by my grandmother Olga from her childhood in the Russian community of Harbin, China.

In Harbin, from ca 1900 and all the ways to the 1940s, Russians and Chinese lived in close symbiosis, initially brought together by the construction of the Chinese Eastern Railway.

Street vendors, itinerant craftsmen, and small traders were a familiar part of everyday life, as reflected in this reel.

Even decades later, my grandmother could still imitate their cries perfectly.

From my memoir Roots in a Handbag: The Stories of Maria and Olga (available on Amazon and elsewhere).

#RootsInAHandbag #FamilyMemoir #MigrationStories #FamilyStories #HistoricalMemory by @elegowrites

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2 months ago

Writers are odd creatures. Some of us still love silly things such as notebooks and pens.

I have carried notebooks with me for most of my life. They contain thoughts, observations, facts, book quotes, story ideas, and all sorts of things. I write everywhere: cafés, airports, trains, buses – even restaurant toilets when an idea arrives at the wrong moment. In my oldest notebooks there are even drawings from my daughter, when she was very young.

Losing a notebook is therefore one of my worst recurring nightmares.

A few years ago, a security alarm in a shopping mall kept going off because of a plastic document folder I was carrying. After several inspections – which put me in a rather bellicose mood – the mystery was solved and the offending security tag removed. I left the shop relieved not to be seen as a criminal, only to discover later that my notebook had vanished during the commotion. I searched everywhere. The shop staff searched too, but it was never found.

Since then, every notebook begins with my name, phone number, and a promise of a reward for whoever returns it.
“Aren't you afraid of getting hacked?” I have been asked. A very good and relevant question.

Nevertheless, I still think one must have some faith in humanity – especially if one is a writer in the world 📚🖋🌍

#WriterLife #LoveOfWriting #HistoricalMemoir #WritersNotebook #MemoirWriting by @elegowrites

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2 months ago