Сonversations with my parents. They are in Kharkiv, Ukraine, the city is being shelled by russian army since February 24, 2022.
April 4, 2022
Dad is questioning the sanity of everyone. Mom relies on poetry when things are hard to express. We went from Akhmatova to early Tychyna. Yesterday Shakespear. What will tomorrow bring? Mom says: "No matter what - we are a happy family. They can never take that from us."
April 5, 2022
There was a lot of rain and wind during the day and something was making loud noises in their apartment building. Was it an open window in one of the now-empty apartments? Roof tile got loose? Door? War? We talk about an old tradition of cleaning carpets in the snow: you put a carpet down on a fresh pile of snow or hang it on a tree branch and beat it up with a stick (or tennis racquet). It was a part of every winter, a ritual - a chore but one that could be a lot of fun if you add a snowball fight. A loud activity! Nobody likes loud noises these days - especially unexplained loud noises. We say "Good Night" - it now has a lot of meaning. I hope they will find what was making that noise.
April 6, 2022
We talk about the animals that were evacuated from one of the zoological parks (it was bombed badly again and now is destroyed). Dad remembers a bear who got into their food storage during one of his many travels. Today's poetry is mostly poems that they read to me when I was little. We talk about how we think that Greece and Rome were different in spirit and whether it is right to compare them. More memories. But no matter the time - the war is a senseless and merciless nightmare.
I am so glad to hear your parents are well and safe. Reading poetry as the bombs fall -- now that is really inspiring! Thank you for sharing this intimate record of humanity holding firm in the midst of horror. Prayers that this atrocious war is over soon.
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