Protest poems
On October 21, one of Belarus' foremost poets, Dmitry Strotsev (b. 1963) disappeared without a trace. The day after, his name appeared on a list of interns at the infamous Akrestsina Detention Centre in Minsk, a place that at times has functioned as a torture centre during these last months of protest. On that same day Strotsev was sentenced to seventeen days imprisonment, of which he spent thirteen at the Zhodzina Prison outside of Minsk before he was released a few days before his stipulated time. On his release it was revealed that at his arrest he had been abducted by unknown persons who had put a sack over his head and thrown him into a minibus and driven him to the KGB headquarters.
Approximately 30 000 arrests have been made since the protests began. Journalists and domestic and international organisations describe a situation where the state again and again is guilty of excesses and the torture of civilians.
Strotsev was sentenced—via Skype!—for participating in an illegal demonstration. This might be the reason for his arrest. Or perhaps he was detained at random—such things happen continuously. When he asked a representative of the judicial system, this person is said to have shrugged his shoulders despondently: “Don’t look for logic where there is none.” Strotsev’s own attitude to his arrest can perhaps be summed up in the following comment: “Who is Strotsev? Well, one of the 17 000 detainees.”
Despite the arbitrariness that characterises a large part of the Belarusian state’s use of violence it is hard not to suspect that there was another reason behind the imprisonment of Dmitry Strotsev. Since last summer he has depicted the protest in a series of “protest poems” known under the name of The Fallen Belarus, a poetic chronicle, still unfinished, that is comprised of a string of condensed illustrations of the simultaneously painful yet hopeful developments in the country.
A few of Strotsev’s poems are presented below, among which the latest have been created during or after his internment. The poem “Bread” is dedicated to Sergey Maslovsky, former chief of police who has taken a stand for the protest movement and who shared a prison cell with Strotsev. From Akrestsina Centre Malovsky was transported straight to hospital.
Belarusian Meditation
patience
time works for us
country’s common rhythm
breathe in
breathe out
breathe in breathe out
do not speak to the dragon
in the language of violence
in his language
only a psychiatrist
not to kill
only long life
on the farm
on a pig farm
where the dragon feels
at home
to speak to people
to officials
to military
to doctors
to people
to speak to each other
to search for a common language
a new language
with trust and hope
with love
to breathe full chest
one chest
whole country
breathe in breathe out
breathe in
breathe out
time works for us
patience
05.06.2020
In memory of Alexandr Tarajkovsky*
not Maidan
without shields or helmets
without fear
live targets
in the shooting range
of A.L.
11.08.2020
*a man shot dead in one of the first nights of the protest
not revolutionaries
my wife and I
are nonpartisan and unarmed
a dragon made his home inside our home
armor-clad and flesh-eating
he prefers our children
already slaughtered
and skinned like
dogs for dinner.
we are sick and tired of hiding our children
we’ve used up all our secret corners
tell us what to do
you, peacelovers
you, dragonophiles
13.08.2020
it is quite amazing
to bring a friend to the square
in the morning the boss wardog cries
let there be a genocide of my people
first the soldiers would shoot into the sky
then they would shoot to kill
amazing to walk hand in hand through the avenue
as for the last time
then in the square suddenly to start breathing
freely
our neighbors have the keys
the dog has water and biscuits for 24 hours
to walk through a yard
where light-heatedly the shadow falls
to walk out into the street
where holy dailyness wanders
maybe these two out of everybody
move into our madness
for an execution
to escape
nothing is too late yet
nausea panic attack
of course you can always turn
back
eyes and eyes and eyes
boss, all is lost we will win
boss, all is lost we will win
who and when turns
primal animal fear
into freedom and happiness
who are these “twenty people”
that irritate the dictator
why do they overwhelm his vision
evacuation of lukashenko from the palace
has begun as we speak
lukashenko is leaving his palace
as we speak
no, the dragon returns
with a machine-gun in his claw
boss, all is lost we will win
we are sick and tired
we will win
23.08.2020
how we
we are holding on
in the country of dual power
Belarusian-style
when three hundred thousand Belarusians
gather
it’s the power of the people
when
we disperse
to go home
it’s the power
of the president of OMON
27.08.2020
Cry Heart Cry
by the university
buses
without license plates
out of the buses
hoodlums spilled
without faces
listen now
we won’t
take off the masks
won’t explain ourselves
we won’t dick around with you
professors of sour cabbage soup
we came here for the children
we will detain and break students
in university lecture halls
and in the hallways
this is our chance
to touch
with our flesh sweat blood
your higher education
cry heart cry
04.09.2020
This is How We Win
victory
is comprised
of barely distinguishable
homeopathic gestures
this is how a hundred thousand
gather on marches in minsk
droplets of yards
streams of streets
into a human ocean
10.09.2020
Poems in the “Glass”*
on the walls
of a police van
glass
hieroglyphs
with fingers
eloquent
like
the nail-scratched
hell-script
on the walls
of gas cameras
in Auschwitz
*A glass is a slang word for a detention room, one meter by one meter in size, without a possiblity to seat. It’s like being held inside a drinking glass.
23.10.2020
Bread
To Sergej Maslovsky
I saw
a pillow made out of bread
in the torture room
in Okrestina
what else to say
about monsters
who kill flesh
*
Lord
come to the tortured
contorted
on the concrete bed
with their heads lying
on the bread of communion
07.11.2020
bees think
Tolstoy says
that all they do is gather honey
in practice
they are pollinating a garden
Belarusians think
Christ says
that all they do is gather a country
in practice
they are healing the world
13.11.2020
