How Ukrainian writers are processing war through poetry 

Yuliya Musakovska, a poet based in Lviv, Ukraine, said that after Russia’s full-scale invasion of her country, her poetic style changed.

For example, she said, she uses a metaphor of stones and nails when she writes about what is happening around her.

“So, when a missile hits a house, it falls apart into stones and nails,” she said. “And, to speak about the war is to speak with a mouthful of stones and nails, to speak through the pain, spitting blood.”

Musakovska said that many poets have been killed during the full-scale invasion — some were fighting while others were hit in Russian missile or drone strikes. Because everyone is vulnerable to these attacks, she said, many of her colleagues are also sharing drafts of their manuscripts with friends, to preserve the work in case the worst happens. 

Many Ukrainians are turning to poetry as a symbol of patriotism and resistance. Some say it’s a creative platform to express their feelings about the war or to stir a degree of national pride during wartime. 

In 2022, during the first year of Russia’s full-scale invasion, one of the most-viral videos from the front lines featured a poem.

In the video that was recorded in the Kharkiv region in northeast Ukraine, there’s a billboard with a Russian flag on it that says, “We’re with Russia, one nation.”

A Ukrainian soldier rips down the sign — revealing the original billboard — featuring an image of the 19th-century Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko and the text of one of his most-famous poems. One of the soldiers reads it with patriotic music edited in.

The most-famous verse from the Shevchenko poem goes: “You must fight on, and you will triumph, God is helping you,” Musakovska said, explaining the significance of Shevchenko’s poetry in Ukraine.

“Taras Shevchenko is considered to be a father of the nation. He promoted the idea of Ukraine’s independence, Ukraine’s statehood and he’s an iconic figure, both at the time of the Russian empire, but even now.”

Musakovska said that she draws inspiration from Shevchenko, but also from dozens of other Ukrainian poets.

That’s an idea shared by many Ukrainian poets, including Daryna Gladun, who said that after Russia’s invasion, she used poetry to process, interpret and express what was happening to her country.

Today, she is writing poetry quickly and posting it on social media.

“Something would happen, like the event would happen and it would get into the news. I would write a poem instantly, I would edit it slightly and within the scope of the day, I would get the feedback from my audience because I would share it online.”

Gladun is now based in the US at the University of Notre Dame, but before the full-scale invasion, she lived in Bucha, the Kyiv suburb that is known as a place where Russian soldiers committed atrocities.

“People, when they hear Bucha, they think of Russian war crimes, and when I hear Bucha, I think of home, and that’s why it is odd.”

Gladun explores some of that strangeness in her poetry. She’s written about how war robs people of their privacy, among other things.

Similarly, Anna Malitska, an Odesa-based poet, explores how the war has fundamentally altered Ukrainian life. But early on after Russia’s invasion, unlike Gladun who was writing everyday, Malitska had a different reaction.

“I remember that I wrote a poem on the first of March 2022, so just a week after the war started, and it was called, ‘I will stop being a poet.’”

At the time, Malitska decided that she’d stop writing poetry until after the war. But she said that just a few weeks later, she began writing again.

“I was thinking that I would be more useful on some kind of other work, but poets, writers, who can translate these ideas to the whole world, we are useful, too. And if I can do it, I will.”

Malitska said that another thing that’s increased her engagement in poetry has been teaching kids at the Kids Poetry Studio in Odesa.

It’s a space where kids, especially those displaced from other parts of Ukraine, can express themselves through poetry.

“Many of those kids had even — they were silent, even with their parents, not just saying about their new school environment, new friends, classmates and so on.”

Malitska said that she’s seen how kids have changed because of the war, and she’s written poems about it. Malitska said that poetry has a therapeutic effect — she’s seen firsthand how kids who used to be silent have opened up to her and to fellow classmates.

“They are not afraid to be loud at the lesson, to be like, ‘Well, I know the answer, please ask me. I have written a poem, I feel like I am a poet.’”

Malitska said that she plans to continue teaching and writing poetry. Despite the war, she said that Ukrainian poetry is going through a renaissance period. And she said that she wants to be a part of that.