War Poems

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Shortly after Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, author and poet Alexander Korotko began to express his tumultuous emotional, philosophical, and human responses to the ensuing war through poetry. In this volume, we find 88 poems, completed in just under 100 days, that capture the relentless wail of sirens, the experience of seeking refuge in cellars and tunnels, and the transformation of the celebrated Ukrainian steppe under the weight of tanks. The poems mourn the dead, referred to as "our killed, who have become our Guardian Angels", and dedicate entire pieces to Irpin and Mariupol as the atrocities there and elsewhere came to light.

Korotko also shows compassion for the Russian soldier, asking, "Russian soldier, what did you leave behind in my land? We had enough grief without you." He empathizes with the soldier's mother when she receives his body, referred to as "cargo 200". At the same time, he does not hide his frustration with Ukraine's allies, lamenting, "we pay the West for help with blood, but the West is slow to deliver."