Oksana Lutsyshyna (II) — [who is on my side, you ask]
Description:
Oksana Lutsyshyna (1974 –) is a Ukrainian poet and prose writer born in Uzhorod. She is the author of 2 novels – notably Ivan and Phoebe (2019), for which she received the Taras Shevchenko National Prize in Fiction, and Love Life (2015) – as well as a collection of short stories and three collections of poetry. Lutsyshyna earned a BA in English from Uzhhorod National University, MAs in French and Gender Studies from the University of South Florida, and a PhD in comparative literature, focusing on the work of Bruno Schulz and Walter Benjamin, from the University of Georgia. She also regularly composes critical articles and blogs for the feminist website Povaha.
Excerpt:
who is on my side? — this tree here,
as if it could be against you?
as if trees could be against people?
a whole park of trees
a whole forest, you could say — and all are on your side
all of them
and the cat? is the cat against you?
no, the cat is on your side
this cat and all the world’s cats
all — on your side, all — your army
nimble, yellow-eyed
and gods? yours and others — and everyone in the world?
wouldn’t they help you?
of course, they would
they are on your side
how could they be — against you?
and that teacher that said — thoughts are everything?
what’s his name — Swami Vishnudevananda
is he — against you?
why waste your time! of course,
he is on your side
on your side
and the sea? what — you think, the sea is against you?
all its waves and pebbles and beaches
visible and invisible
everything is for you, don’t doubt it
everyday and every minute
do you hear — the sea roars?
it says to you: I
am on your side
on your side
and music? which of the notes are against you?
which of the melodies?
Mozart? rappers? pianists?
The Accademia Bizantina? Paul McCartney?
no, what are you thinking
everyone is on your side
on your side
and there is no one against you
and there will never be
and so love, keep on loving
don’t be afraid
Explanation:
Ukrainian poet Oksana Lutsyshyna’s [who is on my side, you ask] comments upon the dichotomy of land and sea, the human and non-human, antagonistic and harmonious. Here, Lutsyshyna contrasts the rolling waves and sea’s roar with notes of music, the words of a renowned Indian yoga guru, and general examples of co-existence between humans and pet animals, trees, and the sublime. The sea is personified by Lutsyshyna as a healing, reassuring force – it is a measure of time both unpredictable and yet eternal; something, like our human intuition, that we cannot know, but must learn to trust.
Citation: Lutsyshyna, Oksana. who is on my side, you ask. Trans. Olena Jennings, Ukrainian Literature: A Journal of Translations, ed. Maxim Tarnawsky, vol. 6, Shevchenko Scientific Society of Canada, 23 Nov. 2021, pp. 107. Ukrainian Literature, tarnawsky.artsci.utoronto.ca/elul/Ukr_Lit/Vol06/.