Today on Lunatic Engine I’m sharing with you a poem. I’ve subscribed to the Academy of American Poets daily email for a few years now. It struck me when I signed up that I liked the way the name (Poem-A-Day) reminded me of the desk calendars we all used to get for Christmas – each day a new Far Side cartoon, an obscure word, a little self-improvement nugget.

The daily email has introduced me to more than a few great poems and poets. As these things go, there have also been days where I simply meh before deleting the email.

Today’s Poem (September 9, 2023) is not one of those. It is one of those that stops time and all the brain noise, forcing multiple re-reads, silently and out loud.

The poem is called “a moving grove” by Irina Shuvalova.

I am going to search out her work based on the strength of this poem. This poem tells you that to which the news can only allude. This poem is all the photos of the war so far distilled. This poem makes me want to learn Ukrainian so I can experience it in its pure, undiluted form. If you can read this in the original, please, please let me know it hits just as hard, or harder.

September’s Poem-A-Day guest editor is Eunsong Kim, a poet with whom I am unfamiliar. Her choice of this poem makes me want to go and read her work.

This poem can live in me for as long as it wants.

Do yourself a favour and go read this poem. Even if you haven’t read a poem since High School, and do not get me started on how poetry is taught in grade school, you need to read this.