HURI Books

Watch Alex Averbuch @averbuchalex read "we are one on one" from his poetry collection 𝘍𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘏𝘢𝘳𝘷𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘴 (translated with an introduction by Oksana Maksymchuk @ok_maksymchuk and Max Rosochinsky)—a poignant manifesto of wartime days and an honest, furious dialogue with God. Incorporating biblical symbols, the text transforms the "salt of the earth" into a weapon of retribution, and the act of looking back into a deliberate choice never to forget one's losses.

***
we are one on one
you, unbearable god of mine
because of you
the righteous will perish alongside the godless
we are the people come to you in the night
open your doors
my god, and let us go
this city is too close to flee to
how mournful this flight
with drums and congenital disorders
for our name is—woe
our mouths filled with brick dust
shout of the heaviest hours
I must swallow this hunger
for there is no grave we wouldn’t bring along
for there is no pillar of salt that we wouldn’t look back at
we are the salt of this earth
hurled into your eyes

#HURIBooks #UkrainianLiterature #Poetry @huriharvard