by Timothy Kercher
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| The Soviet monument symbolising historic ties between ex-Soviet Ukraine and Russia being dismantled in Kyiv on April 26, 2022. |
Today I read that Russian
casualties are colossal, Latin
for larger than life,
the Romans using the word
to describe the statue of Helios
in the harbor at Rhodes,
a term now used to describe
abounding death, the day before
a colossal eight meter-tall Soviet
-era statue of two men
representing Russia and Ukraine
holding a banner of friendship
was taken down, the heads
rolling right off in the middle
of Kyiv, where, in the surrounding
towns, colossal losses
were suffered, larger than life
numbers of dead civilians
strewn in the streets, add
to this the soldiers on
both sides, the mass
casualties on the eastern
front in the cities, apartments,
theaters, schools, hospitals eclipsed
by heavy artillery, the war's
collective losses larger
than a toppled statue depicting
friendship, larger still
than a statue of the sun god.
Timothy Kercher lives in southwestern Colorado with his family and teaches on the Navajo Nation. He has lived much of his adult life overseas, including time in Ukraine, Republic of Georgia, Bosnia, Mongolia and Mexico. His essays, poetry, and translations have appeared in many literary journals including Crazyhorse, Plume, Ruminate, Guernica, and Quiddity.
