Documentary poetry by Aneta Kamińska

on a peaceful
summer afternoon
I walk down khmelnytskyi street
cross a small market
and before the opera house
turn onto svobody avenue

whether
five minutes later
I reach ye bookstore
buy new collections of poetry
translate and publish and read them
at poetry nights

depends not only
on the speed of an oncoming car
the sobriety of a person driving it
the sharpness of teeth of a dog on a walk
the firmness of ledges of a building I pass beneath
the intensity of the sun scorching my head

but is in fact decided
at the military base on the white sea
at the airfield on the black sea
in the office
in red square

***

one hundred sixty drones
above ukraine right now

before bed I check telegram
only to close it fast
I want to finally get some proper sleep

it starts again
air-raid sirens wail in kyiv
monitoring channels predict
another swarm of drones descending on ukraine
three hundred fifty minimum
first explosions echo
people head to subways

piotr messages on facebook

open the drone map now  

many shaheds expected
tonight

telegram pressures me

bombers are lifting off
from military airfields
olenya and engels-2

in the bathroom
i think i hear
the siren
i think i hear
explosions

***

at 3:11am yulia wakes me up
it’s heightened danger

so i go to the corridor
bringing only pillows
phone
and laptop

3:28 drones toward lviv
3:29 drones toward lutsk
3:30 up to ten drones over lviv area
3:32 explosions in lviv

which I hear
despite soundproof windows
facing the courtyard

more suspicious sounds
appear
buzzing
gunshots
explosions

at 3:37 i text iya
greetings from the corridor
and together we decode what we hear
outside our windows

at 3:38 olesia calls
i’m in the corridor
i report immediately

at 3:38 larysa asks
how i’m holding up

two shaheds flew
literally above our heads
their sound like an old motorbike
that explosion is our air defense at work

i think i’m learning to distinguish sounds

3:40 ten drones toward lviv
3:46 lviv under massive drone attack
3:47 ten drones toward lviv

at 3:49 sasha texts
to remind me
about two walls in the corridor
and -1 floor in the building
where eva and lennart already shelter

3:54 you ask where shaheds and missiles fly
just open that map already
and see for yourself where they’re flying
telegram snaps, annoyed.

sasha texts back
stairs safer
than elevator

4:07 three drones toward lviv
4:11 missiles toward ternopil
4:14 explosions in lviv and lutsk
4:22 missiles toward lviv

in darkness i take my backpack and keys
from my room

i leave the apartment
in pajamas and slippers.

lennart explains to someone in english
that if we can still hear drones
they won’t kill us

4:42 missiles toward lviv and lutsk
4:46 missiles toward lviv, lutsk, and ternopil

these are the most dangerous
the woman next to me says

and we came from zaporizhzhia
she says

to the safest city in the country
her daughter cries out

and the three of us laugh

4:53 a missile flying toward lviv changed direction
now flying toward lutsk

the situation slowly calms
some people go back home

at 5:10 the air raid alert lifts

i’m taking notes for poems
i respond

we ride the elevator up

missed call from olesia
missed call from yulia
missed call from iya

i call them back
to report
that i’m fine

(except for
surviving the most massive
attack of missiles and drones on lviv)

(thanks to
surviving the most massive
attack of missiles and drones on lviv)

i go to bed

at ten halyna wakes me up
i have that felt necklace
you can come get it

i get up

how are you?
asks ania from krakow

i love you

i’m as fine
as i can be

and i go out
to get myself
a felt necklace
in the color
of fuchsia

and eat
the ramen
yulia
recommended

***