Poetry: A Selection from Mykyta Ryzhykh

***

I was pulled out of life and put into misery
huge people trampled me with huge feet
they threw volumes of Kafka at me and shouted
my hands were torn off from the body, calling them wings
I was made small and patient like an insect
anarchists and democrats laughed at me
even huge children trampled on my little hail
it seemed to me that even the rain is huge
it seemed to me that the bells in the church were ringing for me
 
I put all my tears in a notebook and died in a small grave
 
***

spring breath of petals
cat playing god with mouse
by the grace of god
 
***

heavenly husbands of earthly dragonflies
dragon breath leaves
longing for a quiet life
long wings of victory flight
the child's hands collapse and
 
release the dragonfly into the wild
 
***

tiny house
the owner dreams like a puppy in the evenings the wind scratches the windows
morning dew urinates on the back of the house
all day the sun burns the freckles on the walls
 
an unconditional feeling of home and peace that no longer exists
 
***

the sea surf whispers to the wind about parting
the sky pretends to be missing
the world pretends to be a child
 
cruel people of clay on the banks of the eternal river
 
***

Wet wood
The butterfly descends
To the bonfire





Mykyta Ryzhykh is the winner of the international competition Art Against Drugs, laureate of the literary competition named after Tyutyunnik, Lyceum, Twelve, named after Dragomoshchenko and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. He has also been published many times in the journals Dzvin, Dnipro, Bukovinian magazine, Polutona, Rechport, Topos, Articulation, Formaslov, Literature Factory, Literary Chernihiv, Tipton Poetry Journal, Stone Poetry Journal, Divot journal, dyst journal, Superpresent Magazine, Allegro Poetry Magazine,  Alternate Route , Better Than Starbucks Poetry & Fiction Journal, Littoral Press, Book of Matches, on the portals Litсenter, Ice Floe Press and Soloneba, a Ukrainian literary newspaper.

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