Photo by Wojtek Witek
“Anna to the left
and Anna to the right,
wild mice,
two halves of an apple.
Now it is time to make a wish:
May this be our last visit here.”
Enjoy this audio recording of “Two Annas” by Yulia Musakovska (translated from Ukrainian by Olena Jennings) from Vol. 34:3 of CALYX Journal! Buy your copy here!
Yuliya Musakovska was born in 1982 in Lviv, Ukraine, where she lives and works. She is an award-winning poet and translator. She has published six poetry collections, most recently Stones and Nails (2024). Her collection The God of Freedom (2021) was released in English from Arrowsmith Press in 2024. She has received numerous awards in Ukraine, including the Smoloskyp Prize for Poetry (2010). Yuliya’s work has been translated into more than thirty languages.
Olena Jennings is the author of the poetry collection The Age of Secrets and the novel Temporary Shelter. She is the translator of collections by Ukrainian poets: Kateryna Kalytko, together with Oksana Lutsyshyna, together with Iryna Shuvalova, and Vasyl Makhno. Her translation, together with the author, of Yuliya Musakovska’s The God of Freedom was released from Arrowsmith Press. She is the founder and curator of Poets of Queens. She lives in Queens, NY.