Born in 1985 in the Donbass region, Luba Yakymtchouk lives in kyiv. Ukrainian poet, playwright and screenwriter engaged against the war, she has received numerous awards. His writings, translated to date into 20 languages, have been published in Sweden, Germany, Poland, Israel and France. Luba Yakymtchouk is the first poet of all time to have recited a poem, during the 2022 Grammy Awards. She also participated in the collective work “Tribute to Ukraine” (Stock, 2022).
“Ukrainian poetry: an act of resistance in times of war.
This collection of 47 poems is called Donbas Apricots for where the apricot trees end, Russia begins. Born and raised in a small mining town in Ukraine’s industrial east, Luba Yakymchouk lost her family home in 2014 when the area was occupied by Russian-backed separatists. Fruits of very complex emotional experiences, his poems range from erotic desire in a war-torn city to the imitation of childish babble to describe the tools of military combat, seen as toys. Luba Yakymchouk shows playfulness in the face of disaster, and thus signs his artistic singularity, evoking the legacy of the Ukrainian futurists of the 1920s.
A language devoid of any pathos, authentic and intimate to transcribe the daily life of an entire people in resistance through the poetry of a woman.” (Presentation of Women’s editions).
With the family we share the table and grave
With the enemy; only the graves
May such a suitor come to me
Share with me a grave
Tell me :
I am taller than you
I’m tougher than you
I am stronger than you
Knife after knife crashes into the belly and lower
Blade against blade
His pressure is more pressing
But
He is smaller than us
He is weaker than us
Because of blade, it has only one
And we on the table, a lot
LY
BONUS: Luba Yakymchouk, his links today with the Russian language and Russian writers, to listen to here.
LUBA YAKYMTCHOUK internet bonus OK OK DEF