Natalka Bilotserkivets Biography
Bilotserkivets' was born in 1954 and holds a degree in Ukrainian literature from Kyiv University. Her poetical universe was formed under the influence of French symbolism and Russian acmeism, thus for the Western reader there are no cultural barriers which often impede the adequate translation of Ukrainian poetry into foreign languages.
Her first poetry book Ballad about the Invincibles was published in 1976, while she was still a student. The collections of poems The Underground Fire (1984) and November (1989) became real hallmarks of Ukrainian poetical life of 1980's. Her meticulous, refined lyrics became a serious competitor to the powerful male poetry of the generation of 1980's. For the entire younger generation of the post-Chornobyl Ukraine her poem "We Will Not Die in Paris" served as a kind of prayer. Her name is often associated with it, though she also wrote a lot of other great poems.
In memory of Ernst Juenger
There are boys who befriend snakes.
They are fearless and they sing.
...
When on a red screen
on the white pillows that are of dead faces
lie the hieroglyphs of brows and eyes
like butterflies embroidered in silk —
...
There's nothing better than the scent
of a child's hair... only a dried violet
smells that way... only an unsure-blue
petal on the thin neck
...
for anyone
in one of the cities where at an uncertain time
capricious fate acknowledges us
...
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