Alla Zagaykevich: Signs of Presence

In 2018, a book by the famous Ukrainian poetess Iya Kiva entitled » A Little Further from Heaven « was published in Kyiv. And the title of the preface was: »Notes about the concept of Limbo«. Yes, from the summer of 2014–from the time of escape from occupied Donetsk–for this poetess began her own Limbo. How it began in some time, say, for Paul Celan.

The way of reading »signs of presence«–passes through the sound.

 

Remembering forgotten melodies of lullabies, some children’s songs, or old cries… Approaching the instrument–we listen to the world around us, cling to its vines, its trees… we listen to all its signs, we recognize ourselves in it.

 

(I am writing this annotation in Kyiv on December 31, 2021. In the morning in the newspaper I again saw the announcement on the collection of troops of Russia to the borders of Ukraine… And it’s part of my »signs of presence«).
Alla Zagaykevych