The Poetry Stash: 20Feb2024

"Everything Is Plundered..." by Anna Akhmatova

Today’s poem is “Everything Is Plundered…” by Anna Akhmatova, from the collection, Poems of Akhmatova, translated by Stanley Kunitz with Max Hayward. The book is available for purchase here.

“Everything Is Plundered…” by Anna Akhmatova

Everything is plundered, betrayed, sold,
Death’s great black wing scrapes the air,
Misery gnaws to the bone.
Why then do we not despair?

By day, from the surrounding woods,
cherries blow summer into town;
at night the deep transparent skies
glitter with new galaxies.

And the miraculous comes so close
to the ruined, dirty houses—
something not known to anyone at all,
but wild in our breast for centuries.

Prompts:

1.	Begin with “Everything is plundered…”
2.	Begin with “something not known…”
3.	Explore how war affects the individual, society, environment. Think about its effects both locally and globally.
4.	Describe a healing balm to moments/events of despair.
5.	What is a miracle? Draft a poem that explores the inexplicable.

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