7 notes from the diary of Kateryna Iakovlenko

Lviv-Kyiv

1 March–30 June

Rain

In her autobiography, Gertrude Stein recalls a dialogue with a farmer who said that it was typical for Germans to call their war a ‘war of thunder and lightning’. After all, Stein goes on to argue, thunder and lightning can cause quite a lot of damage and frighten people at the beginning, but when they are over, they go without a trace. 

“Every storm that roared reshaped the terrain remembered only yesterday,” writes Oksana Zabuzhko in The Museum of Abandoned Secrets.

It was Friday, 11 April, in the afternoon. It was still raining. The storm broke when there was only a little earth left to cover a fresh grave. The military cemetery came to life, flags almost trying to fly away like a flock of crows. But they remained buried, as if rooted in place, just like the people standing next to them. What gives, the rain or stubborn love? 

The grave beside it was ready for the next day's burial. The rain quietened, but did not stop.

Seven or eight

My way home passed through one of the liveliest streets in Lviv. Traffic stopped - cars were letting ambulances pass, hurrying to the railway station. First one, then two, then three, then four. Eventually, there were seven or maybe even eight.

The ambulances were going to the railway station to pick up soldiers. Those who are alive. 

There are definitely more than eight.

Bear

Where do animals hide in times of war?

This bear, pictured on a carpet, still hangs on one of the surviving walls, peeking through the fallen beams of the house. 

Next to it sleeps a dog, she doesn’t have anyone to wake up, let’s get out of here.

Horoscope

How many people died is unknown. Leos and Scorpios are injured, Pisces as well. 

One snake was harmed. We don’t know what her sign is.

Images

The images in Martin Pollack's Poisoned Landscapes are dead. Not images, but bodies. Not bodies but former people. Different people. Predominantly Jewish people, but mostly it is impossible to tell. 

One of them is definitely being led to his death: behind an old bearded man is a German soldier with a rifle. 

Turn around. Who is behind your back?

Leaves     

Just yesterday, this tree, an unusually bright pink spot that caught my eye. Now it's not so vibrant anymore - overnight it lost about half of its leaves. They lie at its roots, scattered in the grey dust.     

I am standing on the road, at the very beginning, waiting for the green light.

The war is at least halfway over, but no one knows how much longer we will have to wait.

Pronouns

How sad that pronouns can’t go to war instead of people.