Interview

Korotko: With God’s help the poetry didn’t lose the poet. But there is more problem with the reader.

Elena Poskannaya

 

Famous Ukrainian poet Aleksandr Korotko devoted the quarter of century to medicine. But for now it is the past, which he doesn’t want to talk about, the same as about policy. “For 14 years I have dealed exclusively with creativity. I don’t watch TV and don’t like intrigue”, – he explained his position to the correspondent of the “GORDON” publication. Recently was published the new poet’s book “The Future revisits The Past”. There were collected short miniatures about our time, creativity and the sense of life:It’s not fair that we got exactly what we deserved”, “ We built the wrong country”, “Please keep hands off sky”, “Thought I hit bottom… no such luck! “. 

Korotko have worked in literacy for more than 40 years. He has been published since 1980s. there were published 23 books since then. His poems became the songs, which were performed by Tamara Gverdtsiteli ,  Nikolai Karachentsov, Taisiya Povaliy, Alexander Malinin  and other artists.  Plays by Korotko’s works were shown at “The theatre on Podil” and at the Ivan Franko National Academic Drama Theater.

In the interview for the “GORDO” poet told that he feels himself as happy person because he does what he wants to do. He is not upset with the low interest to the Ukrainian culture and literature. His point is that the self-fulfillment is much more important than mass recognition.   

– You often repeat: the reader has to find his poet. Now the world is dynamic, people are busy; they have no time for consuming big texts. So, maybe, the poetry, as more laconic kind of literature, has bigger demand?

 

– Even so, they don’t read. On my opinion with God’s help the poetry didn’t lose the poet. But there is more problem with the reader Why?  When we talk about the poet as about the person, we should understand that he is always on his spiritual, intellectual path. If the reader does not share his life way, does not live in poetry, he will receive nothing from it. It is impossible to run into the literature. Who read Kant, Schopenhauer for today?

 

They are very voluminous authors. It is need a lot of time for such reading.

 

– Yes, but we are getting tired by everything, the acuity of perception is dulled. This is natural. But if person is not prepared, he will have no ability to read philosophical or other serious literature.

Recently I’ve told my friend (he is an art critic) that I’m going to put on the Internet sources my new book. He said: “What are you talking about? It is an elite thing. Even if it is accessible to all, mass will not read it.”  I think he is right. There is no reader now. That is why the writer shouldn’t think about him.

  Baudelaire said that he totally does not care what humanity thinks about. One more excellent writer Marcel Proust was not interested in what the others were writing about, he cared only about his own prose.  Goethe was incredibly self-absorbed. But as they started to write, they subconsciously raised over their ego. And then were born remarkable works, the masterpieces.

But there is no need to be offended that people don’t read a lot, don’t buy any books, don’t listen real music, and don’t look at the paintings. It is natural. It is more difficult for the creative person to preserve himself as a kind, never impose and never ask. The alms will not be given.

 

– But human does not know how to do something with no reason. He always makes it for something or someone. Does it mean that creativity lost its sense, if no one needs it? 

– Alexander Pushkin’s words came to my mind: “Poetry have to be a little bit silly”. Also Charles Baudelaire said that the poetry have to be a little bit silly. What was their point?  When we appreciate the poetry of the mind’s eye, it really seems to be silly. It must be measured in terms of creative thinking, imagination and feelings. Actually poetry teaches nothing and does not give any new knowledge. But it gives something more: it opens the new world and brings completely different life energy.

First of all creativity is the self-fulfillment.  And the trials only strengthen the belief in the Lord. You are nothing without him.  So do not exaggerate your importance, messrs. creative people. Read, write, draw and compose by yourself and be happy about it. There will be no wonder.

Seems it goes according to plan. It all burns in a right way. It is bad to worry that nobody need things you’ve created. The most important is to know what good you’ve done.

After 2000 I’ve read totally nowhere. I didn’t have any meetings with the readers. I needed to turn my mind to writing, to write a lot. I’ve created some volume and serious things, which I don’t feel the shame about. It was more than 15 years ago. In the early spring of this year I was invited to listen to the works of Mozart inVinnitsa and read my poems. There were a lot of questions.  Then I gathered Hall on 8th of June in Kiev. People came without any promotion. Actually it is not so sad with the literature, as it seems at first glance. 

– You think so?  But Arseny Yatsenyuk, as prime minister, said: “It is not the time of culture”. So what Ukrainian nation is living for, if nobody cares the culture? 

– It’s a great disappointment, but at the same time it’s sincere and honest admission.  He did not bustled; he was not hypocritical, just made a photo of reality with no realizing of it. There is a great tragedy in these words.  I do not know what changes need to happen to our society that the culture becomes popular. Perhaps another generation has to appear.

In Soviet times, when the West did not know what to do with the grain, we had a constant battle for the harvest, but never had the bread.  I remember when I was a child me and my grandmother were standing in a long queue in Odessa. At tree am we woke up and went to the shop to get two loaves of bread for a person, which cost 6 coins. Grandmother took me with herself because it was impossible to buy four loaves for one person. I was eight or nine years old.  We were told on the radio, as the growing milk yield. Yes, now there is no culture, but if there is no milk, it is even worse.

In Soviet times, the writer got one ruble per line. If he was the member of the Writers’ Union he got more.  If he was awarded – fee increased up to three rubles. Now none is paid. Write if you want, if you don’t want – don’t write!   They even offer the author to pay for the publication of his book.  Therefore, now is the freedom for scribblers. It is terrible disease. They are coming more and more. “The venerables became the frequent visitors” (the miniature fro the book “The future revisits the past”.  “GORDON”), but publishers do not care: it is paid. Of course there are still some publishing with a principled position, but there are very little of them. 

How do you deal with literature in the conditions of deficiency of prepared reader?

 

– Of course, it is not easy. But creativity needs a special lifestyle. Poetry is the highest form of concentration.  The privilege of creative person is to wake up when you want, sleep when you want and work when you desire it.  It is such happiness when you’re in harmony with yourself, when your claims to the world conform to your attitude.

 

– In his poems author is working on imagery, rhythm, rhyme. There seems to be clear. And the creation of aphoristic miniatures – also a significant creative process or a phrase is born in a moment? 

– Each of my miniature is a poetic thought, pressed to one laconic line. I work in different genres: writing prose, poetry, plays. Miniatures for me are a change of activity, my vacation. I am writing not more than 20 miniatures per day. 30-40% from the generated goes to the basket, but such algorithm is needed – this is a dive in such kind of work, it is short in form but extensive in content.  I deliberately setting myself and mentally developing a theme.

My day is divided into totally different cycles, when I am reading, when I am just thinking when I am practicing in creative thinking or directly working. It’s a continuous process.

Usually I write at night, until dawn. For me it is the most productive time. In the evening, I read lot things that I consider to be very important for the writer. It should read only the books which are appropriate to your intellect and philosophical cast of mind. If you have no taste, you cannot distinguish good from bad and, as a result, never will create something significant … 

– What do you read now?

 

– Ten different books in time.  Once again because it is necessary to switch yourself. I have a shelf over my head left to the table (I am left-handed). Now there are books of the genius St. Petersburg poet Leonid Aronson and classics – Sholom Aleichem, Chekhov, Khlebnikov, Harms, and Babel. Often I am referring to Edgar Poe, Baudelaire, Rilke, Verlaine; always I read Kafka and Schopenhauer. 

– Do you read from tablet?

 

– I read only the real paper books!  I always have some markers of different colors, which I make notes on the text and on the margins by. Generally, in my office all is clearly laid out and structured, nothing can be moved.

 

Are you so pedantic?

 

– Perhaps. For me is important the order of things, which I live in. Kafka, for example, wrote at night, in complete silence. The slightest rustling infuriated him. Creativity – is an intimate, chamber and individual thing. 

Another interesting moment: how does a modern poet captures the text? Do you use any gadgets?

 

– I do not use any phone or computer. I am writing by pen on the paper. However, pens I buy exclusively in museums around the world. I love painting, and in foreign trips I always go to museums. If I see there are pens, I buy them. For me the weight, convenience, whether it is smooth to the touch, or has some edgeis very important. This is a delicate time, as the signal travels from the brain, on the shoulder to the fingers, and it is necessary to have time to capture it. 

– The gel ink pens are very popular.

 

– They glide too much. It is terribly annoying me. I’m losing my thought.

 

Do you have a lot of requirements for paper too? 

– I use ordinary office paper. I don’t like to use the blank sheets. First I write on the back of my own drafts, then I rewrite it completely and put it back. I have a desk with shelves for different texts. 

How long the ready things stay untouched?

 

– Differently. Sometimes three to five days, sometimes a month or six months. If I re-read and understand that I can not either add or subtract, then it’s ready. The first who can read the written things are only two people: my wife Lyudmila and the literary editor Natalia Stroganova, with whom I have been working for almost 30 years. 

What role does the family play in your life?

 

– One of the main. Creativity is, first of all, loneliness. Therefore, artists, poets, musicians are lonely people. My family is a gift of fate. Wherever I go, I’m always with my wife. It’s scary to count, but we are 44 years together. She is an associate, an assistant, and a friend. A very sensitive person. I also have two daughters, and great grandchildren. 

 

– Do you educate them?

 

– Education – this is how you behave in the family. Do not engage in moralizing, scolding. If you broke down at home, you will not be forgiven. Children see and take over everything. The main thing is to earn their sincere respect. The rest is a bluff. 

– You have lived in the Crimea for a while. How do you feel about everything happening now in the occupied peninsula? 

– I do not want to engage in politicking, politics is not mine. For me, this is a huge pain … There are always causes and consequences. It happened. I think the time will come and everything will fall into place. We need to move on. We need to look for a solution, and to start in ourselves.

People today are strongly disunited, aggressive, embittered. You can understand this, but you cannot justify it. Above the country and over the world is a great cloud of disappointments. It presses incredibly. It seems to be walking along a spacious street, but a feeling that you are going to the metro during rush hour.

 

– “Historical untruth” is about what ?

 

– That everything is distorted in our world. And there really is no historical truth.

I recently read Varlam Shalamov’s books and wrote an essay about him. Shalamov had an incredibly hard life. It is impossible to realize that a person can go through such trials, so much to endure. His destiny is like our whole history, which gives no one a rest. 

– Today we are again observing how a totalitarian machine in Russia grinds living people. The Gulag ceased to be so called, but did not disappear? 

– I think that the person has changed little in essence. This is dictated by the environment. The whole society must be treated. As the doctors say, put on dispensary records. Really I believe that healing is possible. In this sense, I’m an optimist. And I already feel how time and the country are changing, how people are getting better. Just yet there is no mass manifestation. But people are already looking at life in a different way.

“People believed, but did not trust,” I wrote. True, there are no fools today. Citizens see and understand everything. You will not deceive anybody. Previously, people were more naive, they believed in fairy tales, they say, the master will come and judge. There will not be such. Recently, I have met scoundrels, scoundrels, clever, but no fools.

Politics and, above all, politicians should become less adventurous. The Byzantine style of government ended, and there is still no understanding of it, which is a big problem for all of us. Morality already comes to the fore, and politicians are tight with this.

 

– Many Russian artists performed songs for your poems. You were friends with Sergei Yursky. What has changed in recent years?

 

– Already I do not communicate with anyone and do not support relations. Only with Yursky – my great friend. He is a man of the highest culture, who holds a moral standard, not biased and not opportunistic. By the way, we recently communicated. By train, I gave him my new book of miniatures “The future revisits the past.” Delivered directly to the theater. He really liked it.

 

– You write: “Time has settled down,” and maybe it’s not it, but you?

 

– It settled down. It ceased to be so aggressive. The person is not. And I did not settle down, I think, I just became wiser. There are things that based on moral criteria, I will not do today, and I regret what I did before.

 

– The flow of time interests you, because you feel like you are getting older?

 

– Tsadik Nakhman is buried in Uman. He said to his daughter: “I’m dying, but do not worry, what’s the problem? It’s like moving from one room to another. You call me – and I’ll hear.” Do not be afraid of death. When we are there is no death. When there is death, there are no us. So why to be afraid? Death is an illusion, a deception. None will come out alive from this life. Only poetry, as a phenomenon of spiritual life, can be eternal.

You must be able to live at your age. I remember Soviet television and many public people on the screen, it’s been a long time, and these characters are still unnaturally young. They are weak, do not know the hierarchy of spiritual values, do not understand that it’s bad to be ridiculous, it’s good to be cheerful! It’s damaging to change face and body with plastic.

Botexes-shmotekses will not change anything, they will not help, but will only exacerbate the personal tragedy that arose from the lack of perception of the inevitable aging. It is impossible to change the nature that the Almighty created. Another thing is that in the modern world it is necessary to keep yourself in good shape and good physical shape. But it is important to adequately treat your age, maintain your individuality. 

– Individuality? It is out of fashion for a while…

 

–  Personality has never been in vogue, it’s a protest. Poet and artist Maximilian Voloshin said: “Equality, as a rule, cuts off the legs of high people, since it cannot make a dwarf grow.” Of course, society does not perceive personalities. What is one of the main vices of man? Envy. The envious is unpleasant, if he can not do something like you, that’s why he’s messing with it. Individuality is a challenge.

But these crazy people are able to foresee. They are the force that moves society, pushes the world to development.

 

And finally – one of my poems of this year. 

Поэзия.
Раскрашен сон
тобой
не прожитых
мгновений,
качается небесный
трон,
горит закат
от нетерпенья,
и бденье слуха,
моветон,
необъяснимы
ощущенья,
и властвует
судьбы закон,
который чтит
безумный гений.

Elena Poskannaya

 

Famous Ukrainian poet Aleksandr Korotko devoted the quarter of century to medicine. But for now it is the past, which he doesn’t want to talk about, the same as about policy. “For 14 years I have dealed exclusively with creativity. I don’t watch TV and don’t like intrigue”, – he explained his position to the correspondent of the “GORDON” publication. Recently was published the new poet’s book “The Future revisits The Past”. There were collected short miniatures about our time, creativity and the sense of life:It’s not fair that we got exactly what we deserved”, “ We built the wrong country”, “Please keep hands off sky”, “Thought I hit bottom… no such luck! “. 

Korotko have worked in literacy for more than 40 years. He has been published since 1980s. there were published 23 books since then. His poems became the songs, which were performed by Tamara Gverdtsiteli ,  Nikolai Karachentsov, Taisiya Povaliy, Alexander Malinin  and other artists.  Plays by Korotko’s works were shown at “The theatre on Podil” and at the Ivan Franko National Academic Drama Theater.

In the interview for the “GORDO” poet told that he feels himself as happy person because he does what he wants to do. He is not upset with the low interest to the Ukrainian culture and literature. His point is that the self-fulfillment is much more important than mass recognition.   

– You often repeat: the reader has to find his poet. Now the world is dynamic, people are busy; they have no time for consuming big texts. So, maybe, the poetry, as more laconic kind of literature, has bigger demand?

 

– Even so, they don’t read. On my opinion with God’s help the poetry didn’t lose the poet. But there is more problem with the reader Why?  When we talk about the poet as about the person, we should understand that he is always on his spiritual, intellectual path. If the reader does not share his life way, does not live in poetry, he will receive nothing from it. It is impossible to run into the literature. Who read Kant, Schopenhauer for today?

 

They are very voluminous authors. It is need a lot of time for such reading.

 

– Yes, but we are getting tired by everything, the acuity of perception is dulled. This is natural. But if person is not prepared, he will have no ability to read philosophical or other serious literature.

Recently I’ve told my friend (he is an art critic) that I’m going to put on the Internet sources my new book. He said: “What are you talking about? It is an elite thing. Even if it is accessible to all, mass will not read it.”  I think he is right. There is no reader now. That is why the writer shouldn’t think about him.

  Baudelaire said that he totally does not care what humanity thinks about. One more excellent writer Marcel Proust was not interested in what the others were writing about, he cared only about his own prose.  Goethe was incredibly self-absorbed. But as they started to write, they subconsciously raised over their ego. And then were born remarkable works, the masterpieces.

But there is no need to be offended that people don’t read a lot, don’t buy any books, don’t listen real music, and don’t look at the paintings. It is natural. It is more difficult for the creative person to preserve himself as a kind, never impose and never ask. The alms will not be given.

 

– But human does not know how to do something with no reason. He always makes it for something or someone. Does it mean that creativity lost its sense, if no one needs it? 

– Alexander Pushkin’s words came to my mind: “Poetry have to be a little bit silly”. Also Charles Baudelaire said that the poetry have to be a little bit silly. What was their point?  When we appreciate the poetry of the mind’s eye, it really seems to be silly. It must be measured in terms of creative thinking, imagination and feelings. Actually poetry teaches nothing and does not give any new knowledge. But it gives something more: it opens the new world and brings completely different life energy.

First of all creativity is the self-fulfillment.  And the trials only strengthen the belief in the Lord. You are nothing without him.  So do not exaggerate your importance, messrs. creative people. Read, write, draw and compose by yourself and be happy about it. There will be no wonder.

Seems it goes according to plan. It all burns in a right way. It is bad to worry that nobody need things you’ve created. The most important is to know what good you’ve done.

After 2000 I’ve read totally nowhere. I didn’t have any meetings with the readers. I needed to turn my mind to writing, to write a lot. I’ve created some volume and serious things, which I don’t feel the shame about. It was more than 15 years ago. In the early spring of this year I was invited to listen to the works of Mozart inVinnitsa and read my poems. There were a lot of questions.  Then I gathered Hall on 8th of June in Kiev. People came without any promotion. Actually it is not so sad with the literature, as it seems at first glance. 

– You think so?  But Arseny Yatsenyuk, as prime minister, said: “It is not the time of culture”. So what Ukrainian nation is living for, if nobody cares the culture? 

– It’s a great disappointment, but at the same time it’s sincere and honest admission.  He did not bustled; he was not hypocritical, just made a photo of reality with no realizing of it. There is a great tragedy in these words.  I do not know what changes need to happen to our society that the culture becomes popular. Perhaps another generation has to appear.

In Soviet times, when the West did not know what to do with the grain, we had a constant battle for the harvest, but never had the bread.  I remember when I was a child me and my grandmother were standing in a long queue in Odessa. At tree am we woke up and went to the shop to get two loaves of bread for a person, which cost 6 coins. Grandmother took me with herself because it was impossible to buy four loaves for one person. I was eight or nine years old.  We were told on the radio, as the growing milk yield. Yes, now there is no culture, but if there is no milk, it is even worse.

In Soviet times, the writer got one ruble per line. If he was the member of the Writers’ Union he got more.  If he was awarded – fee increased up to three rubles. Now none is paid. Write if you want, if you don’t want – don’t write!   They even offer the author to pay for the publication of his book.  Therefore, now is the freedom for scribblers. It is terrible disease. They are coming more and more. “The venerables became the frequent visitors” (the miniature fro the book “The future revisits the past”.  “GORDON”), but publishers do not care: it is paid. Of course there are still some publishing with a principled position, but there are very little of them. 

How do you deal with literature in the conditions of deficiency of prepared reader?

 

– Of course, it is not easy. But creativity needs a special lifestyle. Poetry is the highest form of concentration.  The privilege of creative person is to wake up when you want, sleep when you want and work when you desire it.  It is such happiness when you’re in harmony with yourself, when your claims to the world conform to your attitude.

 

– In his poems author is working on imagery, rhythm, rhyme. There seems to be clear. And the creation of aphoristic miniatures – also a significant creative process or a phrase is born in a moment? 

– Each of my miniature is a poetic thought, pressed to one laconic line. I work in different genres: writing prose, poetry, plays. Miniatures for me are a change of activity, my vacation. I am writing not more than 20 miniatures per day. 30-40% from the generated goes to the basket, but such algorithm is needed – this is a dive in such kind of work, it is short in form but extensive in content.  I deliberately setting myself and mentally developing a theme.

My day is divided into totally different cycles, when I am reading, when I am just thinking when I am practicing in creative thinking or directly working. It’s a continuous process.

Usually I write at night, until dawn. For me it is the most productive time. In the evening, I read lot things that I consider to be very important for the writer. It should read only the books which are appropriate to your intellect and philosophical cast of mind. If you have no taste, you cannot distinguish good from bad and, as a result, never will create something significant … 

– What do you read now?

 

– Ten different books in time.  Once again because it is necessary to switch yourself. I have a shelf over my head left to the table (I am left-handed). Now there are books of the genius St. Petersburg poet Leonid Aronson and classics – Sholom Aleichem, Chekhov, Khlebnikov, Harms, and Babel. Often I am referring to Edgar Poe, Baudelaire, Rilke, Verlaine; always I read Kafka and Schopenhauer. 

– Do you read from tablet?

 

– I read only the real paper books!  I always have some markers of different colors, which I make notes on the text and on the margins by. Generally, in my office all is clearly laid out and structured, nothing can be moved.

 

Are you so pedantic?

 

– Perhaps. For me is important the order of things, which I live in. Kafka, for example, wrote at night, in complete silence. The slightest rustling infuriated him. Creativity – is an intimate, chamber and individual thing. 

Another interesting moment: how does a modern poet captures the text? Do you use any gadgets?

 

– I do not use any phone or computer. I am writing by pen on the paper. However, pens I buy exclusively in museums around the world. I love painting, and in foreign trips I always go to museums. If I see there are pens, I buy them. For me the weight, convenience, whether it is smooth to the touch, or has some edgeis very important. This is a delicate time, as the signal travels from the brain, on the shoulder to the fingers, and it is necessary to have time to capture it. 

– The gel ink pens are very popular.

 

– They glide too much. It is terribly annoying me. I’m losing my thought.

 

Do you have a lot of requirements for paper too? 

– I use ordinary office paper. I don’t like to use the blank sheets. First I write on the back of my own drafts, then I rewrite it completely and put it back. I have a desk with shelves for different texts. 

How long the ready things stay untouched?

 

– Differently. Sometimes three to five days, sometimes a month or six months. If I re-read and understand that I can not either add or subtract, then it’s ready. The first who can read the written things are only two people: my wife Lyudmila and the literary editor Natalia Stroganova, with whom I have been working for almost 30 years. 

What role does the family play in your life?

 

– One of the main. Creativity is, first of all, loneliness. Therefore, artists, poets, musicians are lonely people. My family is a gift of fate. Wherever I go, I’m always with my wife. It’s scary to count, but we are 44 years together. She is an associate, an assistant, and a friend. A very sensitive person. I also have two daughters, and great grandchildren. 

 

– Do you educate them?

 

– Education – this is how you behave in the family. Do not engage in moralizing, scolding. If you broke down at home, you will not be forgiven. Children see and take over everything. The main thing is to earn their sincere respect. The rest is a bluff. 

– You have lived in the Crimea for a while. How do you feel about everything happening now in the occupied peninsula? 

– I do not want to engage in politicking, politics is not mine. For me, this is a huge pain … There are always causes and consequences. It happened. I think the time will come and everything will fall into place. We need to move on. We need to look for a solution, and to start in ourselves.

People today are strongly disunited, aggressive, embittered. You can understand this, but you cannot justify it. Above the country and over the world is a great cloud of disappointments. It presses incredibly. It seems to be walking along a spacious street, but a feeling that you are going to the metro during rush hour.

 

– “Historical untruth” is about what ?

 

– That everything is distorted in our world. And there really is no historical truth.

I recently read Varlam Shalamov’s books and wrote an essay about him. Shalamov had an incredibly hard life. It is impossible to realize that a person can go through such trials, so much to endure. His destiny is like our whole history, which gives no one a rest. 

– Today we are again observing how a totalitarian machine in Russia grinds living people. The Gulag ceased to be so called, but did not disappear? 

– I think that the person has changed little in essence. This is dictated by the environment. The whole society must be treated. As the doctors say, put on dispensary records. Really I believe that healing is possible. In this sense, I’m an optimist. And I already feel how time and the country are changing, how people are getting better. Just yet there is no mass manifestation. But people are already looking at life in a different way.

“People believed, but did not trust,” I wrote. True, there are no fools today. Citizens see and understand everything. You will not deceive anybody. Previously, people were more naive, they believed in fairy tales, they say, the master will come and judge. There will not be such. Recently, I have met scoundrels, scoundrels, clever, but no fools.

Politics and, above all, politicians should become less adventurous. The Byzantine style of government ended, and there is still no understanding of it, which is a big problem for all of us. Morality already comes to the fore, and politicians are tight with this.

 

– Many Russian artists performed songs for your poems. You were friends with Sergei Yursky. What has changed in recent years?

 

– Already I do not communicate with anyone and do not support relations. Only with Yursky – my great friend. He is a man of the highest culture, who holds a moral standard, not biased and not opportunistic. By the way, we recently communicated. By train, I gave him my new book of miniatures “The future revisits the past.” Delivered directly to the theater. He really liked it.

 

– You write: “Time has settled down,” and maybe it’s not it, but you?

 

– It settled down. It ceased to be so aggressive. The person is not. And I did not settle down, I think, I just became wiser. There are things that based on moral criteria, I will not do today, and I regret what I did before.

 

– The flow of time interests you, because you feel like you are getting older?

 

– Tsadik Nakhman is buried in Uman. He said to his daughter: “I’m dying, but do not worry, what’s the problem? It’s like moving from one room to another. You call me – and I’ll hear.” Do not be afraid of death. When we are there is no death. When there is death, there are no us. So why to be afraid? Death is an illusion, a deception. None will come out alive from this life. Only poetry, as a phenomenon of spiritual life, can be eternal.

You must be able to live at your age. I remember Soviet television and many public people on the screen, it’s been a long time, and these characters are still unnaturally young. They are weak, do not know the hierarchy of spiritual values, do not understand that it’s bad to be ridiculous, it’s good to be cheerful! It’s damaging to change face and body with plastic.

Botexes-shmotekses will not change anything, they will not help, but will only exacerbate the personal tragedy that arose from the lack of perception of the inevitable aging. It is impossible to change the nature that the Almighty created. Another thing is that in the modern world it is necessary to keep yourself in good shape and good physical shape. But it is important to adequately treat your age, maintain your individuality. 

– Individuality? It is out of fashion for a while…

 

–  Personality has never been in vogue, it’s a protest. Poet and artist Maximilian Voloshin said: “Equality, as a rule, cuts off the legs of high people, since it cannot make a dwarf grow.” Of course, society does not perceive personalities. What is one of the main vices of man? Envy. The envious is unpleasant, if he can not do something like you, that’s why he’s messing with it. Individuality is a challenge.

But these crazy people are able to foresee. They are the force that moves society, pushes the world to development.

 

And finally – one of my poems of this year. 

Поэзия.
Раскрашен сон
тобой
не прожитых
мгновений,
качается небесный
трон,
горит закат
от нетерпенья,
и бденье слуха,
моветон,
необъяснимы
ощущенья,
и властвует
судьбы закон,
который чтит
безумный гений.

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