The Selected Poems of Oleh Lysheha (Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute Publications)

by Oleh Lysheha, James Brasfield

Release Date: February, 2000

Edition: Paperback

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Some nice imagery but elusive and vague

Could it be the translation that makes these poems difficult to follow? I really wanted to like them, but the impression I have is of some brilliant imagery in otherwise meandering poems. Maybe I needed to understand Ukrainian culture to get more of the references, but I think most English-language readers are going to be disappointed.

One strange thing about the book is the use of a double period (..) to form breaks. They occur in both the Ukrainian and English translations but are never explained in the introductory material.

One of my favorite poems is "Song 551" that starts with the wonderful lines:

Before it's too late -- knock your head against the ice.
Before it's too late
Break through, look..
You will see a miraculous world..

"Song 352" contains the delightful image of "the poor hut of the horseradish" in the farthest corner of the snow-bound garden.

The Maiden in the play "Friend Li Po, Brother Tu Fu" sings a beautiful song:

Come in, my love, Oh kiss me..
Your kiss will change the world into heavens..
Come in, my love, don't be afraid of anyone,
Come in, my love, Oh kiss me..

Outside of a few few delicious moments like these, reading this poetry is more a chore than a joy. In the Foreword, George Grabowicz says that "Lysheha's is an elusive kind of poetry -- which may partially explain the reluctance, or inability, of critics to engage it." Elusive is a good word to describe this poetry. I can see why the critics are reluctant.

On the back cover of the book, the publisher quotes James Carroll who says that the poem "Swan" alone makes the book a treasure. He goes on to say that "Lysheha speaks through indirection..." which to me makes the poems difficult and tedious. Here is the beginning of "Swan":

My God, I'm vanishing..
This road won't guide me anymore..
I'm not so drunk..
Moon, don't go..
I appear from behind a pine -- you hide..
I step into shadow -- you appear..
I run -- already you are behind me..
I stop -- you're gone..
Only the dark pines..
I hide behind a trunk -- again, you're alone..
I am -- you are elsewhere..
Absent..
Absent..
I am..
Elsewhere..
I am.. absent..

The poem goes on in similar fashion with double periods and vague imagery for seven pages. After reading this for any length of time I find that I too want to be absent.. from this book..