Poetry: A Selection from Mykyta Ryzhykh

***

I was pulled out of life and put into misery

huge people trampled me with huge feet

they threw volumes of Kafka at me and shouted

my hands were torn off from the body, calling them wings

I was made small and patient like an insect

anarchists and democrats laughed at me

even huge children trampled on my little hail

it seemed to me that even the rain is huge

it seemed to me that the bells in the church were ringing for me

 

I put all my tears in a notebook and died in a small grave

 

***

spring breath of petals

cat playing god with mouse

by the grace of god

 

***

heavenly husbands of earthly dragonflies

dragon breath leaves

longing for a quiet life

long wings of victory flight

the child's hands collapse and

 

release the dragonfly into the wild

 

***

tiny house

the owner dreams like a puppy in the evenings the wind scratches the windows

morning dew urinates on the back of the house

all day the sun burns the freckles on the walls

 

an unconditional feeling of home and peace that no longer exists

 

***

the sea surf whispers to the wind about parting

the sky pretends to be missing

the world pretends to be a child

 

cruel people of clay on the banks of the eternal river

 

***

Wet wood

The butterfly descends

To the bonfire

Mykyta Ryzhykh is the winner of the international competition Art Against Drugs, laureate of the literary competition named after Tyutyunnik, Lyceum, Twelve, named after Dragomoshchenko and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. He has also been published many times in the journals Dzvin, Dnipro, Bukovinian magazine, Polutona, Rechport, Topos, Articulation, Formaslov, Literature Factory, Literary Chernihiv, Tipton Poetry Journal, Stone Poetry Journal, Divot journal, dyst journal, Superpresent Magazine, Allegro Poetry Magazine,  Alternate Route , Better Than Starbucks Poetry & Fiction Journal, Littoral Press, Book of Matches, on the portals Litсenter, Ice Floe Press and Soloneba, a Ukrainian literary newspaper.