Words For War

Episode

Title

First
Broadcast

Comments

Oksana Maksymchuk-hear Their Words

20220418

A week of Essays from Ukrainian poets who have responded to war in their country since 2014. Many of Ukraine's poets had to grapple with language (Russian or Ukrainian) and make sense of the hybrid war since 2014 that brought bloody division as Russian backed separatists and the Ukrainian military fought over the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of East Ukraine.

Poet Oksana Maksymchuk co-edited Words for War, a collection of new poems from Ukraine. Now she, like many of the poets in the collection, has been forced to flee. From a studio in Budapest she introduces writers such as Serhiy Zhadan - now active in relief efforts in Kharkiv, Halyna Kruk - who has remained in Lviv and soldier poet Borys Humenyuk who wrote -

'Poetry saw people die. Poetry put spent bullet shells in its ears. Poetry would rather go blind than see corpses every day. Poetry went places where there isn't a place for poetry. Poetry witnessed it all. Poetry witnessed it all.'

Hear their words. You may be changed by them.

Readers Michael Begby, Rebecca Crankshaw, Tayla Kovacevic-Ebong & Neil McCaul

Producer Mark Burman

For more information on those poets featured in The Essay and others go to

https://www.wordsforwar.com/

War came to Ukraine in 2014. Its poets have been responding to it ever since.

We Come From Odesa, Boris And Ludmila Khersonsky

20220419

Boris and Ludmila Khersonsky became refugees from Odesa at the end of March. Both leading poets, Boris began writing in the days of Samizdat and the ossified Soviet state and has never stilled his voice against the malevolent state. For his wife Ludmila, the hybrid war from 2014 plunged many Ukrainian poets into a state of innocence, a second childhood, in which they confronted the need of speaking a new language. Boris was one of his country's foremost poets expressing himself in Russian. Since 2014 he has learned to write in Ukrainian with poems such as Explosions are the New Normal. 'We have to write. You have to speak, to give witness.

Reader Neil McCaul

Producer, Mark Burman

For more information on those poets featured in The Essay and others go to https://www.wordsforwar.com/

Boris and Ludmila Khersonsky recently fled Odesa. 'We have to write, to give witness.

Lyuba Yakimchuk-ruination Of Cities And Words

20220420

A week of Essays from Ukrainian poets who have responded to war in their country since 2014.

Lyuba Yakimchuk is a poet, screenwriter, playwright. She grew up in Eastern Ukraine in the 1990s and witnessed the arrival of hybrid war there as Russian backed separatists began an ongoing bloody conflict with the Ukrainian army. She left for the security of Kyiv but now total war and invasion has uprooted her and her family to Vienna. Recently she wrote 'Before the war I was a good girl, the kind who would never say bad words, who was never rude to anyone, even in the most conflicted situations. `Good` in the patriarchal sense of the word, a girl one might imagine growing up in a small town near Luhansk. Yet when the war between Russia and Ukraine began, quite literally in our backyard, back in 2014, I started using filthy language even in my poems, because that very filth was as efficient as a gunshot - it had the capacity to `kill`. She recently performed her work at the Grammies. Here she relates her own recent experience of the war and the difficulty of finding words in conflict. as well as reading poems such as 'He Says Everything Will Be Fine' and 'Crow, Wheels'... 'When the city was destroyed, they started fighting over the cemetery.

Producer - Mark Burman

For more information on Lyuba Yakimchuk and the work of other Ukrainian war poets go to https://www.wordsforwar.com/

Lyuba Yakimchuk was born in eastern Ukraine near Luhansk and has now fled Kyiv for Vienna.

Oksana Lutsyshyna, I Dream Of Explosions

20220421

A week of Essays from Ukrainian poets who have responded to war in their country since 2014. First hybrid and now total.

Oksana Lutsyshyna was born in Uzhhorod, Ukraine, but now resides in Austin, Texas. She is an award-winning writer, translator, and literary scholar. She draws on the legacy of Ukrainian, Polish, Russian, and English language writers. Eastern Europe has become her own private nightmare, where time does not move, where the dead poets speak.

There's no place on earth that's safe. There's no earth anymore.'....

Producer - Mark Burman

For more information on those poets featured in The Essay and others go to https://www.wordsforwar.com/

Oksana Lutsyshyna is an award-winning writer, translator and poet.

05 LAST

Vasyl Makhno-my Personal History Of War

20220422

Vasyl Makhno was born in 1964 in the town of Chortkiv in the Ternopil region of Ukraine. He has written about war from a distance since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and now he lives in New York. `It seemed to me that I had written my final poem about the war. I wrote a few about Maidan and the events in Donbas and Luhansk. Poetry, of course, should react, and so I reacted. But on February 24 I experienced real shock and pain from the tragic news about the Russian invasion of Ukraine. I couldn't call it anything other than War.

Producer-Mark Burman

For more information on all the poets featured in The Essay and the work of Ukrainian war poets go to https://www.wordsforwar.com/

Vasyl Makhno was born in 1964 and has written about war since the Afghan/Soviet conflict.

Episodes

Episode	Title	First Broadcast	Comments
01	Oksana Maksymchuk-hear Their Words	20220418	A week of Essays from Ukrainian poets who have responded to war in their country since 2014. Many of Ukraine's poets had to grapple with language (Russian or Ukrainian) and make sense of the hybrid war since 2014 that brought bloody division as Russian backed separatists and the Ukrainian military fought over the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of East Ukraine. Poet Oksana Maksymchuk co-edited Words for War, a collection of new poems from Ukraine. Now she, like many of the poets in the collection, has been forced to flee. From a studio in Budapest she introduces writers such as Serhiy Zhadan - now active in relief efforts in Kharkiv, Halyna Kruk - who has remained in Lviv and soldier poet Borys Humenyuk who wrote - 'Poetry saw people die. Poetry put spent bullet shells in its ears. Poetry would rather go blind than see corpses every day. Poetry went places where there isn't a place for poetry. Poetry witnessed it all. Poetry witnessed it all.' Hear their words. You may be changed by them. Readers Michael Begby, Rebecca Crankshaw, Tayla Kovacevic-Ebong & Neil McCaul Producer Mark Burman For more information on those poets featured in The Essay and others go to https://www.wordsforwar.com/ War came to Ukraine in 2014. Its poets have been responding to it ever since.
02	We Come From Odesa, Boris And Ludmila Khersonsky	20220419	A week of Essays from Ukrainian poets who have responded to war in their country since 2014. Many of Ukraine's poets had to grapple with language (Russian or Ukrainian) and make sense of the hybrid war since 2014 that brought bloody division as Russian backed separatists and the Ukrainian military fought over the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of East Ukraine. Now total war is upon them and many have been forced to flee. Here are their words. Boris and Ludmila Khersonsky became refugees from Odesa at the end of March. Both leading poets, Boris began writing in the days of Samizdat and the ossified Soviet state and has never stilled his voice against the malevolent state. For his wife Ludmila, the hybrid war from 2014 plunged many Ukrainian poets into a state of innocence, a second childhood, in which they confronted the need of speaking a new language. Boris was one of his country's foremost poets expressing himself in Russian. Since 2014 he has learned to write in Ukrainian with poems such as Explosions are the New Normal. 'We have to write. You have to speak, to give witness. Reader Neil McCaul Producer, Mark Burman For more information on those poets featured in The Essay and others go to https://www.wordsforwar.com/ Boris and Ludmila Khersonsky recently fled Odesa. 'We have to write, to give witness.
03	Lyuba Yakimchuk-ruination Of Cities And Words	20220420	A week of Essays from Ukrainian poets who have responded to war in their country since 2014. Lyuba Yakimchuk is a poet, screenwriter, playwright. She grew up in Eastern Ukraine in the 1990s and witnessed the arrival of hybrid war there as Russian backed separatists began an ongoing bloody conflict with the Ukrainian army. She left for the security of Kyiv but now total war and invasion has uprooted her and her family to Vienna. Recently she wrote 'Before the war I was a good girl, the kind who would never say bad words, who was never rude to anyone, even in the most conflicted situations. `Good` in the patriarchal sense of the word, a girl one might imagine growing up in a small town near Luhansk. Yet when the war between Russia and Ukraine began, quite literally in our backyard, back in 2014, I started using filthy language even in my poems, because that very filth was as efficient as a gunshot - it had the capacity to `kill`. She recently performed her work at the Grammies. Here she relates her own recent experience of the war and the difficulty of finding words in conflict. as well as reading poems such as 'He Says Everything Will Be Fine' and 'Crow, Wheels'... 'When the city was destroyed, they started fighting over the cemetery. Producer - Mark Burman For more information on Lyuba Yakimchuk and the work of other Ukrainian war poets go to https://www.wordsforwar.com/ Lyuba Yakimchuk was born in eastern Ukraine near Luhansk and has now fled Kyiv for Vienna.
04	Oksana Lutsyshyna, I Dream Of Explosions	20220421	A week of Essays from Ukrainian poets who have responded to war in their country since 2014. First hybrid and now total. Oksana Lutsyshyna was born in Uzhhorod, Ukraine, but now resides in Austin, Texas. She is an award-winning writer, translator, and literary scholar. She draws on the legacy of Ukrainian, Polish, Russian, and English language writers. Eastern Europe has become her own private nightmare, where time does not move, where the dead poets speak. There's no place on earth that's safe. There's no earth anymore.'.... Producer - Mark Burman For more information on those poets featured in The Essay and others go to https://www.wordsforwar.com/ Oksana Lutsyshyna is an award-winning writer, translator and poet.
05 LAST	Vasyl Makhno-my Personal History Of War	20220422	Vasyl Makhno was born in 1964 in the town of Chortkiv in the Ternopil region of Ukraine. He has written about war from a distance since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and now he lives in New York. `It seemed to me that I had written my final poem about the war. I wrote a few about Maidan and the events in Donbas and Luhansk. Poetry, of course, should react, and so I reacted. But on February 24 I experienced real shock and pain from the tragic news about the Russian invasion of Ukraine. I couldn't call it anything other than War. Producer-Mark Burman For more information on all the poets featured in The Essay and the work of Ukrainian war poets go to https://www.wordsforwar.com/ Vasyl Makhno was born in 1964 and has written about war since the Afghan/Soviet conflict.