WASHINGTON – Poetry is first of all meant to be heard. Hence, poetry lovers flock to live readings – especially when the reader is the poet himself.
Such was the case on Sunday, November 5, 2017, when the Shevchenko Scientific Society’s chapter in Washington, together with the Library of the Ukrainian Catholic National Shrine of the Holy Family, presented a reading by New York Ukrainian poet Vasyl Makhno.
Originally from Chortkiv, Ternopil Oblast, Dr. Makhno has lived in New York since 2000. He is the author of numerous works of prose and poetry, including essays and translations from English, Polish and Serbian. Among the poets he has translated are Zbigniew Herbert, Jean Valentine and John Ashbery. Dr. Makhno’s own works have been translated into 25 languages, including Armenian, English, German, Hebrew, Polish, Russian, Serbian, Yiddish and Malayalam (the classical language of Kerala, India). He received the BBC Book of the Year award in 2015.
Dr. Makhno’s collection “Ierusalymski Virshi” (“Jerusalem Poems”) was published in Kyiv in 2016 in an artfully designed and illustrated edition by Krytyka, with English translations by Orest Popovych and a preface by Yohanan Petrovsky-Shtern. The most recent of his 12 poetry collections is “Paperovyi Mist” (“Paper Bridge”), published by Vydavnytstvo Staroho Leva in 2017. The same publisher issued his collection of stories and essays “Dim u Beiting Hollov” (“The House in Baiting Hollow”) in 2015.
In the congenial setting of the Shawel Room at the national shrine, Dr. Makhno read from the three above-mentioned books. His Jerusalem poems, particularly apt in this venue, combined philosophical meditations with the sounds, smells, tastes, textures and images of the holy city. An excerpt from the appended essay “Crickets and Turtle Doves” extends this panorama of contrasts and conflicts, beauty and antiquity.
Dr. Makhno’s dynamic delivery enlivened several excerpts from his two other recent collections of poetry and prose, touching on such topics as memory, history, war, love, rejection, solitude and the plight of the emigrant. In his informal commentary, he recalled his childhood and youth in Chortkiv and nearby Buchach. Noting that in the late 17th century, this area was under Turkish rule, he observed that as a meeting place of Christians, Muslims and Jews, his hometown was a microcosm of the wider world.
After a discussion focusing on the history of Buchach and its prominent natives, Shevchenko Scientific Society chapter President Bohdana Urbanovych closed the proceedings. Members of the audience immediately lined up to purchase copies of the speaker’s works, which he graciously signed. After all, an initial recitation may give the listener a vivid first impression of a work, but one can only explore its depths and layers through careful and repeated exploration of the text.