When Yuriy Glodan Went Shopping in Odesa
Poets have always responded to war by writing poetry — it’s what we do. Following the invasion of Ukraine by Russia on 24th February this year people started sending The Friday Poem their poems about the war — poems about resistance, poems of protest, and poems about specific individuals affected by the fighting. These are stories of courage, grief and hope. We decided to publish some every week as Friday Poems for Ukraine. Here’s ‘When Yuriy Glodan Went Shopping in Odesa’ by Sue Norton. Slava Ukraini!
When Yuriy Glodan Went Shopping in Odesa
Yuriy swipes through pictures
(wife Valeria, daughter Kira)
with our reporter. Valeria had found
a new level of happiness when
Kira was born, a month before the war.
Three months later, Valeria posted
on Instagram It has been the best 40 weeks.
Yuriy wants the world to know
what happened when he went to the shops.
I hope our story helps to stop this war.
There’s not much left in the wrecked flat.
Some photo albums, the baby’s stroller
now in pieces. A carrier bag containing nappies.
Please take them, he tells us. Give them to charity.
I have no need for them now.
Odesa missile attack: ‘My world was destroyed by a Russian missile’ by Caroline Davies, reporting from Odesa — BBC news 24/04/22
