As an American, I have tried to support Ukraine and its people through advocacy and my poetry since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. I watched, like many others around the world, as Russia gathered a large army around Ukraine before the invasion and how they brutally began their attacks in places like Mariupol and Bucha.
In many ways, I have been struck by how
language fails in the media and by world leaders who see what is happening as a
war between two nations rather than an invasion, in violation of the United
Nations’ Charter, an existential threat to the rule-based order.
Including edits, I have written over 1,300
poems about the struggle of the Ukrainian people, the West's failure, and
Russia's inhumanity—both its leadership and the atrocities committed daily by
Russian soldiers. All these poems are on my blog and Facebook. Many are posted on
other social media platforms, including Instagram, Threads, YouTube, and
LinkedIn.
I've included a small selection of the
additional poems I've written here that were not directly inspired by Taras
Shevchenko. I plan to write another book of Ukraine-themed poems soon, if only
to keep spreading the message of solidarity and support for Ukraine as it
fights to survive.
Resistance, resilience, and resolve are
words that naturally emerge from the united efforts of Ukraine’s defenders and
its people more broadly. Her defenders consist of warriors and everyday
individuals who have sacrificed so much to fight for their freedom and
independence from Russia.
Shevchenko’s life and poetry embody
that same struggle. His poems motivate and inspire today’s generations. This is
truly not a war of choice for Ukraine, but an existential fight for survival
against tactics of attrition, terror, and genocide. We must see the war with
the same gravity.
The West failed Ukraine during this war, from 2014
through the present. This failure occurred under four different U.S.
administrations and, in truth, predates 1994, when the Budapest Memorandum was
signed, and extended through 2013. Issues related to the Russian imperial
conquest and subjugation of Ukraine span centuries.
These concerns are central to this book, and I hope this
section preserves the spirit of Taras Shevchenko as well. His voice echoes
through these words, representing the fight for freedom from Russian domination
and influence.
Ukraine’s future depends on its own decisions about when
and where to fight and what concessions to make for peace. However, Ukraine has
been caught in the middle of larger conflicts, acting as a pawn or proxy,
depending on the perspective and the audience.
The decision to remove nuclear weapons and trust the
other signatories, especially Russia, in the Budapest Memorandum 30 years ago,
now seems so tragic.
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