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| Ukrainian word for bread: хліб [khlib] |
friends say:
you will write about completely other things now
the war blanks flowers and butterflies
it blanks the old books and new plays
blanks the birds
blanks men
it blanks hunger
hungry people share their last crumbs with birds
becoming the birds themselves
disgusted to share their bread and life with occupiers
and fall into the ground as crumbs
instead of the grain
to sprout over the “i” in every staff of life
as the ultimate dot
Author’s note: Russians have no letter “i” in their alphabet.
Julia Bair is a Ukrainian poet, essayist and cultural critic writing on various topics, especially literature, fine art, cinema, and theater. Born and bred in a small town close to the Subcarpathian foothills and educated in the big city of Lviv at Ivan Franko National University, Julia travelled across Europe and lived in the USA for some years.