Menowercogitatus; Thinking Thursdays

I was deeply struck by THIS ARTICLE. Particularly as it followed only a day or so after my having watched a video which concentrated on war poetry... you will see that video next November (yes, I'm that planned ahead! You'll be learning more about that soon.) At school, we were introduced to the work of Siegfried Sasson and Wilfred Owen, and I have held poetry that arises from conflict in high regard since. 

The links within the article kept me busy for some time. The Ukrainian Government site has various sections and also shields the more challenging offerings with +18 click-throughs. Surely harrowing, but a history of the people by the people and a resource for future social and war historians. As an aspiring poet myself, the link to the Chitomo Project was more meaningful to me. It is a literary magazine that has printed some of the stronger stanzas. Chitomo has been around for twelve years, and when I started to look around, I found lots of literary and cultural interest... I realised that I had found somewhere I could make a small difference to the Ukrainian people by donating to the project. [A small aside; that was not straightforward insofar as my first attempt at payment in Hryvnia was thwarted, and I immediately got a text from my bank warning there would be another text requiring direct action on my part to prevent my card from being suspended! Split seconds later came the did you or didn't you take this action, YES?/NO? message. Yes, I responded. Mere seconds further, the bank comes back with, fine, give it ten minutes and try again. I did. The payment of Hr200 passed. That is about £4;50/US$5;40, and I made it a one-off and anonymous. For now.] To encourage reading and thoughts of peaceful pastimes and support budding talent in times of strife is surely worthy? You can read about the background of the project HERE. 

If you click that image, you will be taken to the archive page for all the words that have been written by Ukrainians with poetry experience and those who had none prior. (NB: Google will offer you to translate, and it works well!) Reading through them is no light-hearted task. Yet, in some, there are words of hope and a sense of future - such as the image of the swallow rebuilding in the poem I share with you here...

Please, if you appreciate literature and poetry, would you consider visiting this site and, perhaps, offering a little support? There is some wonderful artwork to accompany the works and news about things relating to reading and learning. I offer this to you in Love and prayer for the people there and in other parts of the world who will not have the comfort we have this Christmas and New Year season. 

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