WE DIG TRENCHES

by Dmitriy Shandra

Translation by Denis Pinchuk and Bohdan Bondarchuk

 Servicemen of Separate 14th Regiment of Armed Forces of Ukraine dig a trench on the frontline in the Zaporizhzhia region. —The Guardian, November 7, 2023

We dig trenches

too tight to stand and walk in

we dig them nights and we dig them mornings

and evenings we dig them

we are swarm

 

There is death

we will tear out its eyes

cut out its heart

and strangle it with beautiful hair

 

Of

The girl from Mariupol

The girl from Irpin

The girl from Bucha

The girl from Gostomel

 

I promise

Dmitriy Shandra is a poet from Ukraine, Kyiv. He is a paramedic of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

SIGN OF OUR TIMES

 by Lylanne Musselman

Collage by Edutopia; Photography by Al Rendon, John Halpern, Todd-Bingham Picture Collection and Family Papers, and Everett Collection

Discussions of dead
sycamores, dancing
doves, piecing together
puzzle skies,
mom’s dementia, and
America’s downfall:
too many guns,
too many dumbasses
to mention,
a deranged
president of U.S.
but not for us:
the humble,
the stressed,
the open-
minded,
kind
poets
who dig
deeper
during
dark
times.

Lylanne Musselman is an award-winning poet, playwright, and artist, living in Indiana. Her work has appeared in Pank, Flying Island, The Tipton Poetry Journal, The New Verse News, Rose Quartz Magazine, and The Ekphrastic Review, among others, and many anthologies. Musselman is the author of five chapbooks, a co-author of the volume of poetry, and author of the full-length poetry collection It’s Not Love, Unfortunately (Chatter House Press, 2018). She’s currently working on another volume of poetry.

SHOVELING OUT A MOOSE

by Skaidrite Stelzer




most of us do what we can
if we believe we can do it
if someone has not whispered in our ears
that the world is too cruel
a world that will kill us (it’s true)
yet we must move against the snow banks
dig deeper than we believe
a moose in a snowbank
that in summer would throw us
trampled in grass
now knows we are animal
surviving all of us
as best we can

Skaidrite Stelzer lives and writes in Toledo, Ohio. Growing up as a post-war refugee and displaced person, she feels connected to the world and other stray planets. Her poetry has been published in Fourth River, Eclipse, Glass, Baltimore Review, and many other literary journals as well as TheNewVerse.News.

BOSTON PRE-SPRING TRAINING

by Kathy Conway

Boston braced Sunday night for a life-threatening deep freeze after a blizzard bombarded parts of the region with nearly 2 feet of snow and gale-force winds. The sixth winter storm in three weeks made February Boston’s snowiest month on record, with 58.5 inches, besting by more than 15 inches the previous record set in January 2005. --Jennifer Smith and Jeremy C. Fox, Boston Globe, February 15, 2015. Photo by Sean Proctor, Boston Globe.

Plant feet shoulder-width apart on
non-slippery surface.
Bend knees slightly.
Grab mid-handle with non-dominant hand.
Place dominant hand at handle top.
Bend knees further to scrunch, suck in belly
while keeping back straight.
Lean in to thrust handle.
Dig. Lift. Twist. Heave.
Repeat.
Repeat.
Repeat.

Necessary gear includes boots, hat,
gloves and shovel.
Repeat heave, higher.
Repeat heave, higher.
Repeat heave, higher.


Kathy Conway has published the chapbook Bacon Street about growing up in a large Boston Irish Catholic family.  She has contributed to The New Country, Getting There and the upcoming So To Speak.  She lives and writes in Arlington, MA and Brunswick, ME.