‘Roving Писанки’ by Veronika Gorlova

Poetry and Potions

From The 2024 Magpie Award for Poetry, second-runner up Veronika Gorlova plays with form and magic in her poem ‘Roving Писанки’.

Here’s what final judge Renée Sarojini Saklikar had to say:

“In our cultural moment, fractured by war and humanitarian disasters, situated in a climate emergency, the combination of surreal imagery and words other than English, with a precise diction and stanza shape, intrigues and provokes. … Brave for the poet to just let the two languages cohere.” – Renée Sarojini Saklikar

For those that have already read the poem, please enjoy the glossary below and return to ‘Roving Писанки’ once more with a new perspective. And for those that haven’t, we hope that this glossary will intrigue and inspire you to explore this work in its entirety in Pulp Literature Issue 44, Autumn 2024.

Glossary for ‘Roving Писанки’

Courtesy of Anna Belkine

Писанки – Scribbles

магической силой – magical powers

земле – earth

бессильной – powerless

снег –   snow

реку – river

неудобных местах – inconvenient places

гладкое – smooth

писанка – scribbles

руки, ноги, языки – arms, legs, tongues

может их видеть – can see them

плавающий – swimming / floating

болото – swamp / marsh

сфера – sphere

корзина – basket

их силы выросли – their powers have grown

Они напуганы – They’re frightened

кровь – blood

желтой – yellow

затоплены – flooded

терпение – patience

развалилось на части – fell apart

сахар – sugar

отогнать ведьм – chase away witches

горькой – bitter

неразборчивом – unintelligible

Find this poem in Issue 44, Autumn 2024

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Veronika Gorlova is a queer, autistic, Jewish poet and writer living on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh people, also known as Vancouver. Her family immigrated to Canada from Ukraine when she was five years old, and she has lived in many parts of the country. Her writing appears in Arc Poetry Magazine, the /tƐmz/ Review, Cathexis Northwest Press and Poetry Pause, among others.