“March 16,” a Ukrainian poem by Tania Rodionova, Translated by Ella Yevtushenko

March 16

They say a habit is formed in 21 days
and that is unfortunately true
what I never wanted to get used to
becomes everyday life
I got used to waking up from a siren
in two seconds
cutting off gas
shutting windows and doors
going to the hallway
not listening attentively
to the noise of aircrafts
not thinking that one day
it will be theirs
I got used to not going out
without my backpack
and keeping the map of shelters in my head
during the walk

21 times I got lost in time
I lost count of hours
and days
for 21 days I have been getting used to

and today
Mariupol happened
and I don’t know how to get used
to this emptiness.

___

16 березня

кажуть, за 21 день виробляється звичка
і це, на жаль, правда
те, до чого не хотілось звикати,
стає буденністю
я звикла від сирени прокидатись
за дві секунди
вставати
перекривати газ
закривати вікна і двері
йти в коридор
не прислухатись
до шуму літаків
не думати, що якогось разу
це може бути не наш
звикла не виходити на вулицю
без рюкзака
а на прогулянці
тримати мапу укриттів в голові

21 раз я губилась у часі,
втрачала лік годинам
і дням
21 день я звикала

і ось сьогодні
стався Маріуполь
і я не знаю, як звикнути
до цієї порожнечі

Tania Rodionova is a translator, editor, poet, and cultural manager. She is the initiator of the VERBatsiya translation group and director of the TRANSLATORIUM Literary and Translation Festival. Among her published translations are books by Timothy Snyder, Dorothee Richter, and Pascal Gielen. Now, she is actively engaged in translating Ukrainian war poetry into English. Her own poems are translated into English, German, French, and Lithuanian.

Ella Yevtushenko is a poet, translator and musician from Kyiv. Finalist of poetry contests “MRP” and “Dictum”, laureate of the contest “Smoloskyp”, participant of festivals Book Arsenal, Ї, BookForum, TRANSLATORIUM, etc. First poetry collection Lichtung was published in 2016. In 2020, she founded a solo electronic & poetic project Thuyone. Co-founder (with Bohdan-Oleh Horobchuk) of the art association SHCHOHLA which has held more than 20 cultural events, as well as co-author of the Kulturtrigger YouTube channel.