Alexei Tsvetkov

Russian-language emigrant poet, translator, and essayist, was born in 1947, in Ukraine. Together with Sergey Gandlevsky, Bakhyt Kenjeev and Alexander Soprovsky he founded the unofficial group of poets Moscow Time. In 1975 he was arrested and deported from Moscow and in the same year emigrated to the United States. He edited the emigre newspaper Russkaya Zhizn (San Francisco, 1976–77). In 1983 was awarded a PhD degree in philosophy. Tsvetkov taught Russian language and literature at Dickinson College, Pennsylvania, worked as an broadcaster at the Voice of America and at the Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty. In the late 80s he stopped writing poetry and turned to prose. In 2004, after a 17-year break, Tsvetkov turned back to poetry. He also writes and publishes poetry and essays in English. In 2007 he was awarded Andrei Bely prize for poetry. For many years Tsvetkov lived in New York. In 2018 he made aliyah and presently lives in Israel.

 

ASHES

 

one more thing she says remember

that curious notion of theirs

they believe for some reason

that they will live ever after

and that the cats and the butterflies

on the contrary die for good

 

they believe she says

that there is someone

who owes them

some of them even know precisely

the sum total of this debt

 

but we are something different she says

yes i agree completely different

for some reason with us it is

we will never know why and it’s ok

 

so we keep walking in the tall grass

where cats are chasing butterflies

and leap catching with their paws

only the empty bright air

the butterflies laugh silently

the cats smile in response

another wonderful day

of the unexpected eternity

 

except for those ashes

grinding on our teeth

 

Translated into English by author