ban & water//Mykyta Ryzhykh

ban

ban death and stray dogs in all their forms and guises
ban refugees in the name and votes of congress
ban high social spending and low wages
ban changing the constitution and the president
ban drinking vodka and smoking tobacco :possibly on holidays:
ban all holidays including birthdays
ban mortgages and loans
ban such short nights and long days
ban short meetings and long farewells
ban flags clouds and flagpoles
ban birds from singing and water from getting feet wet
allow sleep
allow military exercises
allow going to the toilet
ban stray birds in the air
ban living and dying allow only one of two things
force everyone to make hair for snowmen and wait for the eternal lonely spring

water

there is no freedom: there is a path to liberation
otherwise where does the river get so much false water
in the depths of this bottomless channel our bodies
will be found mute and breathless
everyone will think that we drowned in love as a couple
but we drowned in loneliness as a couple
freedom choosing to die freedom from traffic rules gravity and silence
silence kills more often than intentional car accidents
this life has brought no one more than a loan
that’s why water also stands alone and breathless mute-mode mad-ness
local birds don’t know what to sing anymore

Mykyta Ryzhykh is originally from Ukraine, now living in Tromsø, Norway. Nominated for Pushcart Prize 2023, 2024, he has published many times in literary magazines іn Ukrainian and English: Tipton Poetry Journal, Stone Poetry Journal, Neologism Poetry Journal and others.