Many critical voices, in several languages, have praised the poet Vasyl Makhno. But in the case of this book such praise is only half of the golden apple. Without an excellent or, more precisely, a fully adequate translator, the poet’s name would be meaningless to most people, and a book of bad translations would distort his name. Makhno is very lucky to have found an adequate English-language translator. Orest Popovych, although (or, perhaps, because) he is a scientist by profession, is able to capture not only the text but also the subtext of this poetry. Never attempting, as some poet-translators do, to outsing the original song, Popovych attentively listens not only to he words but also to the melody and spirit of these poems long before putting pen to paper. As a result, those who do not have the Ukrainian language, may rest assured that they get the kernel of these powerful texts, and those who do will delight in the translator’s art. Bohdan Rubchak, Professor-Emeritus, University of Illinois at Chicago, bilingual poet and literary critic

Thread: and Selected New York Poems

Literature & Fiction

Makhno, Vasyl

Poetry

Meeting Eyes Bindery

<p>John Lennon and the author’s father hover over a landscape of legacies, offering inspiration and admonition in Winter Letters, Vasyl Makhno’s new poetry collection. Beginning with what John Donne called “both the year’s and the day’s deep midnight,” Makhno contemplates the snow and despair of an alien and alienating New York, and carries us in a seasonal cycle across time and geography, across world culture, high and low. With stops in his native Ukraine, as well as Germany, Romania, the State of Maine, among others, Makhno introduces us to characters as diverse as old Volodya (the pensioner who came to church in pajamas), and Johnny Cash (who means moola). With a foundation in the international community of letters, Winter Letters reminds us of the universal power of art. Judith Baumel, Walt Whitman Award Winner, former director Poetry Society of America</p>

Winter Letters: & Other Poems

<p><div> <div> <p>Paper Bridge is the first bilingual collection by Ukrainian poet Vasyl Makhno, a "master of the contemporary Ukrainian Ballad, who builds a lifeline for the broken-hearted wanderers, homeless heartbreakers, hopeless romantics, and helpful ironists," in the words of Valzhyna Mort, winner of the Griffin Poetry prize. Makhno's bridge extends to us all, serving whatever purpose we need it to, as Lidijia Dimkovska, author of A Spare Life, writes, "it is a bridge that can burn or resist... but it is a witness to the existence of a traveler through souls, bodies, and spirits, through our own subconsciousness." With this outstanding collection of poems, Makhno is able to preserve an "enviable spiritual equilibrium...one that grinds out the music even in the toughest of days, a music that survived the twentieth century and keeps alive in the new horrors of the twenty-first," in the words of Los Angeles Book Prize winner Ilya Kaminsky, &nbsp;"and now despite it all, even in his room in New York City away from Ukraine, [Makhno] can still hear how 'old age sings' how it 'nervously forces the music into a rhythm," and how 'it might falter, but it plays again.'" &nbsp;</p> </div> </div></p>

Paper Bridge

History & Criticism

Plamen Press

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Books by Makhno, Vasyl

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Makhno, Vasyl. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Thread: and Selected New York Poems

Winter Letters: & Other Poems

Paper Bridge