War Poems

<p>Shortly after Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24 2022 author and poet Alexander Korotko began to express his tumultuous emotional philosophical and human responses to the ensuing war through poetry. In this volume we find 88 poems completed in just under 100 days that capture the relentless wail of sirens the experience of seeking refuge in cellars and tunnels and the transformation of the celebrated Ukrainian steppe under the weight of tanks. The poems mourn the dead referred to as our killed who have become our Guardian Angels and dedicate entire pieces to Irpin and Mariupol as the atrocities there and elsewhere came to light. </p><p><br></p><p>Korotko also shows compassion for the Russian soldier asking Russian soldier what did you leave behind in my land? We had enough grief without you. He empathizes with the soldier's mother when she receives his body referred to as cargo 200. At the same time he does not hide his frustration with Ukraine's allies lamenting we pay the West for help with blood but the West is slow to deliver.</p>