Interview

Emotional poetry of Alexander Korotko

Tatyana Goncharuk

( is published in the reduction )

– How much emotionality is important to the poet?

– In my opinion, poetry by definition cannot be non-emotional. If there is no injection of passion, emotion, then such poetry is not viable. Therefore, a poet, an artist, and any creative person, is a priori very emotional. But the main thing is not to make a cult out of your emotions. The poet writes through inspiration. And this is an emotional series, a Divine presence. But the reader is not very interested in the poet’s inspiration at this time. It is important for him that the artist’s work inspires him, the reader. And that it inspires, you need a powerful emotion, a powerful passion, embedded in the work.


– And how do you look for this inspiration?

– Inspiration is primarily a job. Gogol said: “Exercise, practice, write.” And Count Sollogub contradicted him: “And what if you cannot write?” To which Gogol replied: “Write harder! You’ll get tired and write it in a couple of hours”. But the reading, the perception of such complex poetry as mine and my predecessors – Osip Mandelstam, Boris Pasternak, Marina Tsvetaeva, Vladimir Mayakovsky, or prose by Kafka and Andrei Platonov – is a huge work of the reader’s heart and soul. It doesn’t come from the air. This is the same work, equal to writing; this is the same process of creativity. Then new spiritual heights are opened for you. Because we are mortal, but in each of us there is God. It is a part of His soul, and it goes to heaven. And our body goes to the ground. Therefore, it is important not to disappoint the reader. For example, Don Juan not only seduced, he also did not disappoint.

– How often does inspiration visit you?

– I write every day until dawn. Everything is born in the morning. Morning is the youth of the day. Therefore, on a fresh head, with complete silence, work is going on, then you are able to hear the voice of heaven. I fall asleep always under classical music or under a jazz. It takes a lot of energy to work for me. Me begins to shiver. I wrap myself up, listen to music and fall asleep, so I’m recovering. It takes a day or two, I look at what was written before and sometimes I wonder what I wrote so well. I understand that someone helped me.

– Is that widespread opinion that poets sometimes are whispered by muse, right?

– To write a work is very important design. The idea must be more brilliant than the work itself. For me, poetry is only an instrument. This is not primary. It is an instrument of comprehension of the Divine. There is always a mystery. The mystery of the meaning of life, the birth of man. And poetry is a mystery. I only know one thing: if you do not rise to the Creator, He does not come down to you. Therefore, dictates someone or not, this is a great esoteric, mystical, philosophical and Divine question. This is not spoken out loud. There are things, secrets which a great artist will never tell to you. The only thing I can say is that creativity is penetrating the mysteries of the Divine. This is contact with higher forces.


– People say that Russian poetry is very emotional, do you agree with this?

– Russian literature is very emotional and diverse, unlike, maybe, English. Mayakovsky once said: “Having written a work, the English think that they are shouting at the top of their voice, their hearts are bursting. And when we Russian read it, it seems to us that they are just delicately apologizing in a low voice. ” Poetry should be emotional, then it is energetically healthy. It does not call for anything, but it gives a new vitality and vital energy. This is the most interesting, when you say nothing, but it affects a person.


– But do you still put any meaning into your works?

– Certainly. Sense is mandatory. If poetry is written according to the laws of the Divine and on it lies the seal of genius, then regardless of what it is about, it contains a lot of meanings, a deep associative series.

– And what does “written according to the laws of the Divine” mean?

– After the work is written, it lives separately from the author. And each person, depending on his mood, the time of the year, the state of health, his own psychotype, will read in it something special for him. And as more brilliant is the work, as more each time the reader will find new and new meanings. Millions of times you can read the same poem and each time in a new way. This means that it is written according to the laws of the Divine. Poetry is ascension. 


– In my opinion, your poetry can be called poetry-meditation. But at the same time you say in one of your poems that “nothing kills time like thinking”. There is a contradiction in it …


– Not really. There’s a slightly different meaning. People say that if you did not get better at that moment, you became worse. Peace is for the dead. Movement – for the living. The Lord said, “In the sweat of your face, you will get your bread.” On this earth, people must work day and night. Remember how in Zabolotsky’s works? The same is with time. If you do not control your time, it destroys you. We have no right to lose a single minute. Especially creative people. In order to create something, you have to think. Thinking is a privilege. How are we different from animals? Intelligence and word. Therefore, reflection for the poet, philosopher, and artist is the most important thing.


– You write that “out of all delicious torments on earth is only one, and it is called love.” Is love a torment?

– Love is a great test, and all great is created through suffering. Love is a fiery passion. A person often under the influence of this feeling loses control. When you ask a lover to describe the object of his love, you will get a portrait in exaggerated colors that are far from reality. But as soon as you detail the object of your love, love goes away. Where there is passion, love, there is romanticism and a dream. We must love. This is our strength. Man, when he loves, is filled completely differently. The old as the world theme, but no artist, no poet could not bypass it.

– Your poems are built on antinomy, a number of oppositions, why?

– Poetry is dialectic. Everything is built on a contradiction. This is an internal explosion, a great internal conflict. How long has your poem existed? Until there is a mystery that the reader cannot unravel.

More