Born into the tyranny of Stalin's Russia
you would not dissolve with the tears of
three million peasants starved to death, or
shoot yourself in the heart like Mayakovsky.
You would protest against Brezhnev's
militant and violatory censorship,
demonstrate peacefully in Red Square
with Litvinov and Babitsky for civil rights,
oppose (too publicly) the soviet armed
invasion of Czechoslovakia which ousted
Dubcek, publish your poetry in the Samizdat
which earned you the label of dissident.
They hated your spiced and heavy tongue!
Tried to silence you at the Moscow City court,
declared you insane, banished you to Butyrka
prison, estranged from your new born son.
Isolated, an oppositionist of the state
you'd sew aprons and sheets for a monthly wage
of two roubles, refused to compromise
yourself, undressed their vile conspiracies.
They would describe you as dangerous,
remote, reserved and strange, yet here I sit,
touched by the intimacy of your words and
the suffering they so vividly evoke.
I hear your loud dark winter, the 'flood
of stars' that followed you, see through eyes
that were fixed on the bend in the river,
the shadow of the fire, the forsaken human hand.
Author notes
Natalia Smith...meet Natalya Gorbanevskaya . Natalya Gorbanevskaya, poet, human rights activist and one of my hero's. Not quite finished this yet...
Please tell me what you think
Comments
1 - 12 of 12
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Brilliant!!! . . . and thank you for exposing me to a poet I know nothing of . . . will check her out in the very near future. Thank you . . .
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I found this quite sad despite her heroism- the dictatorship etc. This was a powerful tribute
Thanks for your comment
Pozo
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She is your hero - or one of your heroes.
I read this work and as a writer I must say I admire the graft that went into this. As a reader I admit the title piqued my interest, but I almost nodded off (and history was my favorite subject).
However, all that disappeared with the first line of the last stanza.
That line alone tells me all I need to know about her writing; about the bond between you two. Damn if it is not powerful.
Powerful!
That was in case you did not get the point. A very few select poets can take dry historical and biographical facts and conjure up a mesmerising or at least striking poem.
On this site maybe one or two.
It is, some say, much "easier" to write on the emotional level about one's heroes or gods etc.
Look at love poems - for do they not occupy themselves with their love's hair instead of her birth date? Or the emotional effects of a lover's smile?
This is an admirable job, but it is that line that burns Natalya into me. That makes me want to know her but, above all, know you.
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Thanks for your lovely comment Rofcau, much appreciated X Still a work in progress. Heading over to read some of you.
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Nice tribute, and good adjectives for her and her work. I haven't read as much of her stuff as some of the other Russians, but you've captured the personal and fiery tone within the context of the politics quite well.
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Thanks always for the encouragement Brian, ever appreciative thereof. I'll get round to completing this at some point X
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Nice to meet ya Natalya, I'm Natalia lol I am not as strong willed as you though... Although at times have a "spiced" tongue LOL
Always the case those who stand up for their rights and the rights of others they get classed as the " trouble makers"
Good write mate and thanks for the introduction. Always nice to have someone to inspire you. Bet you red her cos she had the same name as meeeeeeeeeeeeeeee ya wee scottish tart
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Oi, less of the Scottish lol ! I am ENGLISH!!! I know your spiced tongue, I taught you well
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Bravo!!
That was an impressive march down historical memory lane, and a sober reminder that the freedom we in the western world take for granted is a very precious commodity for those less fortunate. That said, "our freedom" is not without it's own unique form of shackles and encumbrances, but I digress and will save that for another rant.
I am impressed with your intimate knowledge of history and those whose martyrdom will become the beacons for generations to follow as they seek the universal freedom that every human being so rightly deserves.
I think the first and last lines are strong openers and closers for this work. I salute you for making a story like this your poetic focus, and think it speaks volumes for your own personal evolution.
Much respect always,
Henri
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Thanks so much Henri for your kind words, always appreciated more than you know. Not quite finished as yet, but I'll get there. I am completely enamoured of Russian poets at present, particularly female poets, and their personal experiences through the Lenin/Stalin/Brezhnev/Khrushchev era. Their suffering was immense. Thanks for your encouragement XXX
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I will I will I promise (if I live). Best review...
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Merci Timothy! XX
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