Transitions №2
Author: Dmitry Strotsev
Translated by Tatiana Bonch-Osmolovskaya
BELARUSIAN MEDITATION
patience
time works for us
united rhythm of the country
inhale
exhale
inhale exhale
do not speak with a dragon
the language of violence
his language
only a psychiatrist
do not kill him
the long life
on a farm
on a pig farm
where tsmok is at home
like at his home
talk to the people
to the officials
to the military
to the doctors
to people
talk to each other
to find a common language
a new one
with trust and hope
with love
breathe deeply
with united chest
the whole country
inhale exhale
inhale
exhale
time works for us
patience
05.06.2020
Blood in Minsk
epileptic cyclist
burst into
paddy wagon
he was carefully
carried out on the arms
of the internal troops’ soldiers
and transferred to
just arrived
ambulance medics
08.08.2020
*
in memory of Alexander Taraikovsky
not the maidan
without shields and helmets
without fear
live targets
in the shooting range
of AGL
11.08.2020
*
my wife and I
we are not revolutionaries
unaffiliated and unarmed
a dragon settled down in our home
steel plated and carnivorous
he loves the most our children
they are already beaten like a chinese dog
and skinned
we are so damn tired of hiding them
all out of secret corners
what should we do
peace lovers
dragonophiles
13.08.2020
Women in black
Eve
you
won already
even in
one
single
country
13.08.2020
*
wait belarusian maiden
do not hug a riot policeman
was it the same when
jewish hava
hugging the boot of an ss officer
14.08.2020
*
I do not like this square so much
this masterpiece of Langbard
soaked in slave sweat
of bleating heads
drawn to slaughter
on the altars of the State Planning Commission
do not go to the square
pass by the Langbard
to the red bricked church
of Symon and Alena
15.08.2020
*
hierarchs
raped
by a police baton until uterine rupture
in such a family synodal photo
from Akrestsin prison
hierarchs
humbly covering the black hematomas
into flowing silks of festive vestments
folding quietly broken hands on their knees
from one throat
where a police baton is stuck up to the handle
you proclaim fatherly
to us
to the Body of Christ
to hungry and thirsty for the truth Church
submit to the monster and stop twitching, children
you don’t understand what you are doing
we
hierarchs
in subtle sleep and quiet prayer
saw dragon eggs, and those are incredibly beautiful
those are brighter than light
those are stronger than meaning
those are clearer than conscience
those are higher than Lord
and those are certainly much more dear to us than pain
we
the Body of Christ
the crying and inconsolable Church
we answer them
you have lost your voice and appearance
we don’t hear you anymore, don’t see you, don’t know you
hierarchs
19.08.2020
*
how amazing is
yet to bring a girl to the square
this morning the main warrior of the country cried out
let there be genocide of the people
at first the soldiers will open fire over the heads
then they will shoot to kill
to walk hand in hand by the boulevard
as if for the last time
and suddenly on the square to breathe
free
the keys left to neighbours
the dog has water and a supply of crackers for a day
to walk through the yard
where a careless shadow falls down
to go outside
where a saintly everyday reality wanders around
maybe these two among all
are moving into our madness
aiming for a shot
to jump off
it’s not too late
nausea panic attack
of course you can always turn
back
eyes and eyes and eyes
chief everything’s lost we will overcome
chief everything’s lost we will overcome
who and when turns
the primal animal fear
into freedom and happiness
who are these twenty people
who so annoyed the dictator
why do they repeat and repeat in the eyes
evacuation of lukashenka from the palace
started right in these minutes
lukashenka leaves the palace
right in these seconds
no, the dragon returns again
with a gun in his claw
chief everything’s lost we will overcome
we are so very tired
we will overcome
23.08.2020
*
people
go through the sea
a wall stuffy like blood
it parts and parts
pharaoh
his chariots
on the tail
priests
crowd and talk on the shore
they agree
the youth
little prodigal offspring
will suffer and toil
in foreign land
will turn back home
to Egypt
25.08.2020
*
we are
we hold on
dual power in the country
so Belarusian
when they gather
three hundred thousand Belarusians
it is the people’s power
when
people go
home
it is the power
of the president of the riot police
27.08.2020
*
the belarusians
for three days have taken off
from their hips
their breasts
their cheeks
fragments of Czech grenades
Polish bullets
Europeans
that is all
we can expect
from you
29.08.2020
Cry my heart cry
without plates
buses drove up to
the university
from the buses
rascals jumped out
without faces
in short
we will not
take off our masks
we will not explain anything to you
and we will not bother with politesse for you
dr smarty
we came for the children
we will
detain and break the students
in the university classrooms
and corridors
this is our chance
bodily sweaty bloody
to join the high
education
cry my heart cry
04.09.2020
*
To Irina Kodyukova
in Minsk
yard
rock’n’roll
we
want
changes
in Minsk
yard
a scream
mum
run
it’s riot police
06.09.2020
COUNCIL OF EUROPE
hello
BIM
hello
BAM
the rest is not for a phone conversation
BIM
I understand
BAM
this is war
president Lukashenko turned out
to be a tough nut to crack
BIM
are you already writing your dissertation
about the laughter culture
in the Belarusian protest?
no sanctions
BAM
the embodiment of
adequacy and legitimacy
BIM
05.09.2020
By this we win
a victory
is made
of barely distinguishable
homeopathic gestures
how marches of hundred thousands people
gather in Minsk
from drops in the yards
streams on the streets
to the ocean of humans
10.09.2020
*
it is not easy
to wake up a partisan
it is not easy
and putting him back to sleep
is just impossible
just as it is impossible
to push a jinn back
into a bottle
there are no
spell capable
12.09.2020
*
Lord
save Belarus
Thee
in the face of evil
be among us
lead us
thirsting for righteousness
by Thy hand