Poetry Travels: Ukraine. UNTITLED POEM by Ludmila Khersonsky, translated by Maya Chhabra

The worst is when war catches a man with a string shopping bag
When he’s on his way back from the store.
In his bag, there’s a bottle of milk and a loaf of bread.
And war laughs, “Should’ve bought salt, soap, and matches.”
And the man asks, “What do I need salt and matches for?”
And war answers, “Cuz it’ll come in handy later.”

By Ludmila Khersonsky

Translated by Maya Chhabra

Ludmila Khersonsky was born in Odessa in 1964. She is the author of four award-winning books of poetry. Her poems were published in many literary magazines in Ukraine and other countries. Her poems were translated into German, English, Polish, and Lithuanian. The Country Where Everyone’s Name is Fear, a selection of her poetry and her husband Boris Khersonsky’s, edited by Ilya Kaminsky and Katie Farris, will be published in English in April 2022.

Maya Chhabra is a writer and translator living in Brooklyn.

Photo by Lisa Kalloo

Check out the Poetry Travels book list on bookshop.org.

Read previous poems from Poetry Travels:

UNTITLED POEM by Iryna Vikyrchak

From THE ANDROMEDA NEBULA by Anna Gréki, translated by Souheila Haïmiche and Cristina Viti

TEAPOT by Nurduran Duman, translated by Andrew Wessels

IT’S COMING AGAIN by Michael Strunge, translated by Paul Russell Garrett

REPORT FROM ANOTHER CITY by Marcin Niewirowicz, translated by the Author

INTERIOR by Ana Blandiana, translated by Paul Scott Derrick and Viorica Patea

THIS IS LOVE by Joanna Fligiel, translated by Anna Blasiak

REVELATION IN H&M by Menno Wigman, translated by David Colmer