Poems that reflect on the current tragedy in Ukraine.In her newest collection, Ukrainian American poet Dzvinia Orlowsky is a witness, never a bystander, ready to stare down the demons, to “cut yourself with a dull razor.” She sets up house among the nightmares of intergenerational trauma and, as far as anyone can, humanizes them. Through her work, Orlowsky prompts us to enter our own histories instead of just watching.
Dzvinia Orlowskyis a poet, translator, and a founding editor of Four Way Books. She is the author of six poetry collections published by Carnegie Mellon University Press, including
Bad Harvest."Fusing the mythical with the political and the global with the personal, the poems in Orlowsky’sThose Absences Now Closestoffers a reflective authority about generational trauma and family stories and their necessity for the diaspora during times of war and hardship. These poems bear witness to the tragedies unfolding in war-torn Ukraine, and they bring the nightmarish demons of war—both figurative and literal—to the forefront for all to see."
“Those Absences Now Closestdocuments, with adroit craft and virtuosity, not only ubiquitous human grief and cruelty but also war’s disastrous toll on the natural world: ('ask the horse if it knows // to what peace your body rushed off // after the catastrophic fire.') To this urgent, masterly testament of love and mourning, Orlowsky lends healing elements of family history, surreal struggle and surprise, and folkloric magic that bring to mind Chagall’s captivating paintings.”
"Dzvinia Orlowsky’s sensitively attuned poems listen for the beating animal heart of absences wrought by war and exile. They ask, 'what holds us / to the colorless burn // of family' and who is keeping count of the dead when the homeland is far and no one reports the bombings anymore.
![Those Absences Now Closest [Paperback]](/itemImage/2/1/1/0/2_6995712.jpg "Those Absences Now Closest [Paperback]")