Author's website Alexander Korotko

Recently, poetry of Korotko rather quickly, without changing its essence, takes different shapes, different music – sounds in Ukrainian, English, and – unexpectedly – in Chinese. Moreover, 13 new works have been translated into Chinese. All of them are in a special aesthetics that combines philosophy, special metaphorical simplicity, avant-garde lyrics, laconicism. This poetry does not leave the reader indifferent, it bewitches, makes you think, guess the off-screen, encrypted and testifies to the highest level of skill and artistic maturity of the author.

Alexander Korotko began to create a large poetic cycle, which, possibly, will form the basis of a future book. Poems are “tested” on a personal Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/alexanderkorotko.poetry/), and translators have the opportunity to start translating a newly created and immediately posted poem on the same day. Thus, literally “off the wheels” the works acquire a new linguistic life. As an example, we offer the original and three versions of one of Korotko’s works translated by Olga Ilchuk (Ukrainian), Nataliya Ogienko (English), Yijin Wang (Chinese).

НАЕДИНЕ

Пустоты молчаливая

моль,

в решето голоса,

и летят

дней игрушечных

сны

в небе памяти

в сторону лета.

И призыв

ВОЗВРАЩАЙСЯ,

словно флаг

на ветру,

зазывает и манит

в бухте осени

золотом детства.

 

НАОДИНЦІ

Порожнечі безмовна

міль,

в решето голоси,

і летять

іграшкових днів

сни

в небі пам’яті

в сторону літа.

І клич

ПОВЕРТАЙСЯ

на вітрі,

мов стяг,

закликає і вабить

в бухті осені

золотом мальства.

 

FACE TO FACE

Silent mole

of emptiness,

voices in a sieve,

and dreams

of toy days

are flying

in the sky of memory

towards the summer.

And a slogan

RETURN,

like a flag

in the wind,

beckons and attracts

in the bay of autumn

by the gold of childhood.

 

«独自»

空虚沉默的飞蛾

在声音的筛网里，

玩具日记的梦在记忆的天空飞向夏天。

召唤它回来，

像风中的旗帜，

用童年的黄金在秋天的海湾里招手。