“These poems written primarily in Ukrainian, and then translated into English, refuse to glorify gore, but instead render reflection. Have we grown numb to body counts? Poets of the Ukraine deliver a reckoning, and the souls of a people are laid bare. ‘In The Hour of War’ speaks between the people of Ukraine and the world.”
In the Hour of War:
Poetry from Ukraine
Edited by Carolyn Forché and Ilya Kaminsky
Ukraine may be the only country on earth that owes its existence, at least in part, to a poet. Ever since the appearance of Taras Shevchenko’s Kobzar in 1840, poetry has played an outsized role in Ukrainian culture. “Our anthology begins: Letters of the alphabet go to war and ends with I am writing/ and all my people are writing,” note the editors of this volume, acclaimed poets Carolyn Forché and Ilya Kaminsky. “It includes poets whose work is known to thousands of people, who are translated into dozens of languages, as well as those who are relatively unknown in the West.” These poems offer a startling look at the way language both affects and reflects the realities of war and extremity. This anthology is sure to become the classic text marking not only one of the darkest periods in Ukrainian history, but a significant moment in the universal struggle for democracy and human rights.
“The poems in Arrowsmith Press’s most recent Ukrainian poetry anthology In the Hour of War: Poetry from Ukraine, edited by Carolyn Forche and Ilya Kaminsky, challenges language’s conventions. Ukrainian poets whom international poetry audiences have known for quite some time invent and reinvent capture and express the horror, grief, and reckoning with what the current war in Ukraine has offered not only to them, but Ukrainians across the globe. However, these poems boldly remind readers that while news regarding the war has all but disappeared from Western headlines, the war, for Ukrainians, remains an everyday reality. Nonetheless, the poems in In the Hour of War are not merely see-and-respond missives which, like most political poetry, lose their flavor after the historical moment—or in the case of modern society, a few days—has passed. These poems are not only rooted in the current situation in Ukraine; they draw on other dark periods in Ukrainian history, such as Holodomor, to parallel Ukraine’s past experiences with Russian imperialism with the present one.”
-Nicole Yurcaba, Tupelo Quarterly
Editors:
Carolyn Forché has published five books of poems, most recently In the Lateness of the World, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2021. Her works also include translations, anthologies, and a memoir. She is a professor at Georgetown University.
Ilya Kaminsky was born in Odesa, Ukraine, and now lives in the United States. He is the author of two poetry collections, Dancing in Odessa and The Deaf Republic. His works also include translations, essays and anthologies. He is a professor at Princeton University.
