by Oleh Kotsarev / Олег Коцарев
Наш Перший Раз
соромно але треба зізнатись
що перший раз я проспав
(як до речі й другий але тут не про це)
а коли вже мене добудились
коли другі російські ракети
лягли носами
у подушки небезпеки наших аеродромів
коли треба було згрібати
неслухняними граблями одяг документи
та інші ганчірки і папірці
сідати між двох стін несучих
то прямо між мною і рюкзаком
почали кохатися сіра кішка
і кіт чорно-білий
не слухаючи вибухів за річкою
не шукаючи стін без вікон
кохалися вперше
кохалися як уперше
ми дивились на них зі свого закутка
і знаєш —
лікарні та школи були ще цілими
а солдат російський
ще не зазирав до твого унітаза
Our First Time
it’s embarrassing really but I have to confess
that I slept through the first time
(the second time too, though that’s beside the point)
but when I was finally awakened
when the second round of russian missiles
plunged their noses
into the unsafety airbags of our airfields
when it was time to scrape together
with hands like disobedient rakes
clothes documents
and other rags and papers
to sit down between two load-bearing walls
then right between me and the backpack
two cats, one gray, one black-and-white,
began to make love
not listening to the explosions across the river
not seeking out windowless walls
made love for the first time
made love like it was the first time
we watched them from our little corner
and you know what —
the hospitals and schools were still intact then
and a russian soldier
was yet to peer into your toilet bowl
Translated from Ukrainian by Milla McCaghren, Christopher Damon, Yevheniia Dubrova, Savannah Eller, Emily Hester, Marta Hulievska, Kirill Lanski, Jasmine Li, Andres Meraz
Dartmouth College (Russian 71, Sp’22)
Oleh Kotsarev is a writer, journalist, literary critic and translator born in Kharkiv in 1981. He is author of many books of poems, most recently Contents of Men’s Pockets (2021), as well as a collection of short prose and a novel. His work has appeared in literary journals and anthologies around the world, and has been translated into many languages.
This poem by Oleh Kotsarev was translated from Ukrainian by Christopher Damon, Zhenia Dubrova, Savannah Eller, Emily Hester, Marta Hulievska, Kirill Lanski, Jasmine Li, Milla McCaghren, and Andres Meraz, all of whom are students at or recent graduates of Dartmouth College. The translation was completed as part of a seminar for advanced speakers of Russian taught by Victoria Somoff in the spring of 2022. The course was a workshop dedicated to the translation of personal testimonies from the current Russian-Ukrainian war as well as contemporary Ukrainian poetry. The students first conducted individual translations, which underwent multiple rounds of critical revision before reaching the most refined versions of their collaborative translations. The students then met, via Zoom, with the poems’ authors to discuss their translations. Oleh Kotsarev – poet, prose writer, translator, and journalist – joined the class from Uzhgorod where he now lives with his wife and five-year-old daughter after having fled the small town of Bucha near Kyiv at the onset of the war.