Irina Gedrich
(Published in abbreviation)
The creative evening of the famous Kiev poet and playwright Alexander Korotko took place in the famous Russian Poet’s bookstore on 5th Avenue in Manhattan. Ilya Levkov, the President of Liberty Publishing House, introduced to the readers the author of the famous poem “Abraham and Yitzhak” which was included to the new collection of selected verses and poems “There Are Birds of Separsting of Love”, published by Liberty Publishing House, New York. The author of the preface to the poetic collection by Alexander Korotko “Zare to meet” Andrei Voznesensky called him “an innovator, an impressionist in poetry,” and the patriarch of Ukrainian literature Pavlo Zagrebelny in his foreword to the book of poems “Colorless Dreams” told about his poetry: “Poems are not for reading aloud, but for contemplation, to absorb the sight … These verses allow you to live not in the petty vanity of everyday life, but in that great solitude where we remain people in the highest sense of the word. “
At the invitation of Ilya Levkov, I visited this wonderful evening and was able to ask the poet Alexander Korotko a few questions:
– Alexander, what from your work is included in the collection of selected works?
– This poetic book is the result of my work of the last two decades. The book is built on a thematic principle: childhood, poems about poetry and creativity in all its manifestations, lyrics, the Jewish cycle, philosophy. My book includes four poems – “Beloved by the Sun”, “Paris”, “Venice” and already well-known to readers the poem “Abraham and Isaac”.
– How do you position yourself?”
– As a poet, for which the poetry is not primary, but is only an instrument for comprehending the Divine, because faith underlies everything
* * *
Я не Адам, и я не Каин, я никого не убивал, я в этот мир
пришёл с окраин тех будней, где человек ничтожно мал.
Я не Адам, нет, я — как Авель, чья кровь доныне вопиёт
из недр земли, я порожденье вашей травли, немой вопрос:
как вы могли?
– What is the most important for you in your work?
– This is Judaism, philosophy, painting, music, the work of famous writers, poets, artists, composers.
БРОДСКОМУ
На остров. Неужто так просто? Пронзительно тихо, ночь
мышью летучей вонзилась в луну, и стих твой стал страхом,
неистовой тучей, что тянет и небо и вечность ко дну. Земля
тебе пухом, нет, прахом, по слухам, ты пишешь, смешной
небожитель, зеркальную правду балетной страны. Вершитель
не судеб, а снов поимённых, ты слышишь, ты видишь, как
слабые волны всё же приносят с другой стороны, строчку за
строчкой, фискальные даты жизни непрочной как оправдание
нашей вины.
– How do you think, Alexander, can a man fully know God?
– In the Jewish tradition, it is initially known that one cannot fully comprehend God; he can only strive to know Him, to the best of his abilities. Thus, the path of religion and the path of science in their quest for truth are two ways to the same thing. But, as the Jewish religious thinker Rabbi Joseph Dov Soloveichik remarked about it, “The goal and the limit of knowledge is the unknowable … The secret of life lies in the fact that the secret must exist … And the highest happiness comes to a person when, having made sure In his ignorance, he finds God … “
МЕЖДУ НЕБОМ И ЗЕМЛЕЙ
На ощупь тишину едва отыщешь. Поверь, нет лучше пищи
для души, чем мысли. С твоей сноровкой, взглядом крысьим
не потянуть заоблачные выси. Поэтому пока ты здесь и под
ногами почву греешь, весь пыл свой жаркий (а ты сумеешь)
направь туда, где твой покой, оберегаемый разлукой, спасёт
от грешного суда и от назойливой и праздной скуки. Как две
погасшие звезды, твои глаза на фоне неба, но это, друг мой,
полбеды, там, где беда, еще ты не был. Над бездной только
сон и дух парят бесстрашно (плоть не давит), но кто об этом
скажет вслух, пока земное нами правит.
– How do you think what does need to be able to man, that he does not to destroy his soul?
– To be able to love and be able to forgive .
* * *
Мы прощаем любовь и дыханием робким возвращаем не
время, а холодную кровь, и бессонное сердце, часовой
наших бед, словно путник покорный, поклоняется солнцу,
и бумажный рассвет, как когда-то любовь, за мгновенье
сгорает, и букет, что зовётся весной, на глазах наших
вянет. Я не знаю, зачем возвращается страх тишины и
безлюдное эхо молчания оглушает не ночь, а голодные
сны той оглохшей страны, где живут впопыхах наши дни,
и напрасно огни, что бенгальскою славою звёзды зажгли,
через вечность отчаяния мне в глаза говорят – ты устал,
отдохни…»
– You are a Jewish poet writing in Russian, the author of more than 20 books translated into English, French, Polish and Ukrainian. Do they translate you into Hebrew?
– Of course, they translated and translate now. I often go to Israel, where live my friends and wonderful translators from Russian to Hebrew Raya and Yigal Meir, with whom we are now collaborating.
Here, in New York, besides participating in the International Book Expo exhibition, mine and Ilya Levkov meeting with the Minister of Absorption of Israel, Sofya Landwer, during which the minister was awarded my book “There are birds of separation of love”.
– Your life is full of bright creative events and mutual cooperation with famous composers and singers. How interested reader can get to know your creativity more closely?
– The way is quite simple – book a book on the website of the publishing house “Liberty”
–http://libertypublishinghouse.com and come in to my personal website http://en.korotko-poetry.com