BOOK NOTES

Author's poetry deals with Ukraine's current realities

"Mahia Vohniu," by Daria Rychtycka. Detroit: 2000, 267 pp., $15, hard cover.

Daria Rychtycka's fourth collection of Ukrainian poetry, "Mahia Vohniu," reflects not the romantic illusion of a pastoral past, but the present-day realities of a country gripped by poverty, corruption and the hope for a brighter future.

The topics of her poems are as varied as the travels she has embarked on through the years. She writes of the scent of a Carpathian flower, the bloodthirsty din of a Roman crowd cheering for death in the Colosseum, the unsteady step of a "babusia" lugging home a sack of potatoes so she can cook a meal for her grandchildren, the excitement and passion of an Argentinean tango and more.

"Mahia Vohniu" contains five sections which were written in Detroit (1998-1999), Ukraine (1997-1999) and Rome (1995). Minimalism has increasingly played a role in Mrs. Rychtycka's poetry, and this is especially evident in the last section of the book, which contains a series of short, haiku-like verses.

The book is illustrated by Myroslav Korol (an artist from Ivano-Frankivsk who now resides in Kyiv) and includes a foreword by Dr. Volodymyr Pohrebennyk of Kyiv, as well as an article about the author's travels throughout Ukraine written by Sophia Melnyk-Bura of Cleveland.

The book can be ordered by writing to N. Rychtyckyj, 30109 Ohmer, Warren, MI 48092.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, August 26, 2001, No. 34, Vol. LXIX

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