by Anna Golubkova
translated by Anna Halberstadt

As I was passing through the Bolshoi Stone bridge
to my surprise, I felt  so alive.
There was only the sky around me,
plenty of sky, much more, than a regular average
person would need.
I walked through the Bolshoi Stone bridge
and thought of how long ago it had been
that I felt  just like a person
without any particle of gender
age or social class mixed in.
And above my head there were floating
enormous blue-grey clouds . . .

* * *

In subway —
a girl with bulging eyes
thickly lined
with a black eyeliner.
Most likely, she fancies
looking like a slow deep-water fish
barely moving its fins
deep under the water,
where the Sun does not reach . . .

by Eduard Limonov
     translated by Anna Halberstadt

* * *

This incredible day was covered by rain
In the park —
Bricks in buildings with red walls
Got soaked

People lived in the houses surrounded by trees
Young, old and kids:

Katya — stared into a corner a whole day
She ran and ran and screamed
Olya — messed up all of her hair

In the attic Fyodor was reading a secret book
Gloomily glancing sideways

Anna — got adorably excited
by discovering in nature something new
(New in nature
Maybe a ray of empty Sun
Maybe depth of an empty forest
Or a new species of a flower)

Rain was rhythmically monotonous
Olya — stared in the mirror
Fyodor — enjoyed his tea with a Chinese bun
Katya — was flying away while falling asleep
Anna — was going out in the rain sadly

by Eduard Limonov
     translated by Anna Halberstadt

* * *

I was a fun-loving character
Then turned into a recluse and a pauper
I lost my job a while ago
and I’m just barely alive
All I need is bread and potatoes
and salt, water and tea
I use a teaspoon to feed myself
And I am skinny like you wouldn’t believe
But then I owe nothing to no one
and no one yells at me from early on
and if someone drops by at two
or half past any other hour — me, lying down

* * *

A cat of gigantic intellect
keeps staring into a black window
she still hasn’t learned how to speak
but she is full of ennui and insight

she dangles her many legs
swings and swishes her soft tails
And a man just grabs and
puts her on his knees

Two animals have struck a friendship
moved in together, see eye to eye
And love to play a dinner-making game
when evening light turns somewhat wild

by Galina Rymbu
translated by Anna Halberstadt and Sophie Malleret

I see wind blowing sur les pavés

on lychakovskaya — no one’s there

state of mind — red.

color of the mood — black

nuit nuit pour chacun de nous  — state of loneliness
of black lviv

therefore drapeau noir now approves

frames the whole city
solitude solitude

chacun de nous
insisting on their
everything
our footprints
exist

borders exist
but not frontières d’état
not “national” borders —

ce sont borders of mutuality
of protecting
of caring
de l’espace

therefore nous sommes invincibles
c’est notre espace

and we are in it
à peine l’avenir

I speak in barely intact
future
in two broken tongues:

cloches in the bell-tower
of the shrine
and voices of the ones, that had not been buried
in the outskirts

grey kernels of
cimetière yanovskoye
within us
a night wind over cobblestones
spreads like a black flag
retrécissant

you are afraid of it
you are mad
we forgot
how to be together

comment partager comment partager comment partager
rêves rêves rêves of the country

but we are here for sure
on our own
together

our state of mind — red

color of mood — black

this is a carnival of torn drapeaux
this is an earthless procession of
indépendantes communities
this is Marx
like an emblem
like a seal on snow
and dead text
contracting
ruins
with dead texts
a rose — earth
emma — emma
bakunin — forest
graeber — friend

a ghost co-op
it’s always been like this here

a message
une union
of red objects
une union
of skulls, cracked open
une union

of liveukrainiens
a union
of sabbat éternel

a union of deadly wanderings of
a union Roms
of dead men, but les femmes
fight and make decisions
fight and make decisions
Galicien red
Soleil

my mamy used to say —

Soleil rouge turns black — expect wind
expect change