Olga Livshin's Avatar

Olga Livshin

@battlecake.bsky.social

Poetry, Ukraine, fuzzy dog, teaching kids/teens creative writing. Work in progress: a poetry collection about war called Battle Cake. Pubs: New York Times, Ploughshares, Poetry.

93 Followers  |  95 Following  |  25 Posts  |  Joined: 22.01.2025  |  2.0888

Latest posts by battlecake.bsky.social on Bluesky

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I am so honored that my poem "Deadbeat Gods" found a home in The Southern Review, a dream journal. Thank you to Jessica Faust, an insightful editor. @southernreview.bsky.social πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦

23.05.2025 01:27 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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"What we need today is a new theory of poeticsβ€”an alarming one, a wake-up call. Today we needΒ catapoetry."

#catapoetics #catapoetry
#catapoem #catastrocene

23.04.2025 11:44 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 4    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 1
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(Continued) - Ukraine TrustChain: www.ukrainetrustchain.org/donate
- or to the Odesa Poetry Studio, which works with kids to help them read and write poetry, co-founded by Ilya Kaminsky: poemsnotbombs.org/index.php/su...

22.04.2025 18:17 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Here is my poem in Poetry Magazine. Odesa is still being bombed every day, as are other cities in Ukraine. Please consider donating to… (thread)

22.04.2025 18:16 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

in the latter days
of a corrupt world
cherry blossoms

Issa

07.04.2025 14:14 β€” πŸ‘ 139    πŸ” 46    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 4
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So excited about these events coming up in April! You can register for tomorrow’s virtual reading here:
us06web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

06.04.2025 21:13 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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So excited about these events coming up in April! You can register for tomorrow’s virtual reading here:
us06web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

06.04.2025 21:13 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Thank you again to Pedestal Magazine for publishing my poem β€œ2023.” Here, I read it. thepedestalmagazine.com/olga-livshin...

26.03.2025 19:53 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Of possible interest to @mayachhabra.bsky.social @hughgaroberts.bsky.social @uillem.bsky.social @jessicawalsh.bsky.social @annagunin.bsky.social @alinapleskova.bsky.social @apjanco.bsky.social

25.03.2025 17:55 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Thank you to Pedestal Magazine for including my poem "2023" in their issue 95.5. I am trying something new today; here is a video of me reading this poem in Ukrainian translation. I've been translating my poems with the kind help of Natalya Faryna and this poem is about wars...

25.03.2025 17:55 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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What language, imagery, and literary traditions help speak the unsayable? How does the multilingual Ukrainian diaspora speak? What can we do as poets, writers, essayists, and translators to bridge, connect, and heal? Come join us to discuss these questions at AWP 2025!

13.03.2025 15:34 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

End thread β€” please repost.

04.03.2025 16:15 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Donate to Ukraine Army - Come Back Alive Foundation Come Back Alive Foundation raises funds to help Ukrainian Army. You can donate to Ukraine Army from anywhere in the world via card payments, wire transfers, swift or crypto.

The Come Back Alive Foundation. "Our primary objective is to enhance the effectiveness of the Ukrainian Defense Forces ... [T]he Foundation procures equipment, including thermal optics, drones, vehicles, and surveillance and reconnaissance systems." Support them here: savelife.in.ua/en/donate-en/

04.03.2025 15:43 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Support Medical Teams in Ukraine | Donate to Leleka Foundation Looking where to donate for Ukraine? Your donation to Leleka Foundation will help field doctors in Ukraine save lives with high quality first-aid supplies

Hanna Leliv recommends Leleka.Care: "We help
frontline medics save lives in Ukraine ... delivering essential medical supplies to Ukraine's defenders and civilians affected by the ongoing war." Support them here: www.leleka.care/donate

04.03.2025 15:41 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
Support Us

In Odesa, @ilyakaminsky.bsky.social reports, "...Kids Poetry Studio continues its workβ€”kids who are refugees of war from ravaged places such as Kherson and Donetsk are writing poems, and exploring Odesa." Support needed; donate here: poemsnotbombs.org/index.php/su...

04.03.2025 15:39 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Donate β€” Ukraine TrustChain

UkraineTrustChain, co-founded by my friend Ilya Knizhnik: "We support volunteer teams and fund urgent aid and evacuations in the active war zone. Our small teams go where big international orgs can’t, to provide food, medical supplies, and rides to safety." Support www.ukrainetrustchain.org/donate

04.03.2025 15:39 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
Donate – Razom

Razom for Ukraine, spearheaded by the wonderful Maria Genkin out of New York: "With a robust international network of volunteers and partners, we provide humanitarian aid, and administer programs focused on health, advocacy, civil society and culture." Support Razom: www.razomforukraine.org/donate/

04.03.2025 15:38 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Friends are asking how they might help Ukraine at this awful time. Here are a few reliable ideas: small orgs, people I know. Civic society. It's still here. (Thread...)

04.03.2025 15:36 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 1

Trump is losing some of his supporters over the meeting with Zelensky today. As he should.

01.03.2025 00:02 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

I admire Zelenskyy. You don’t have to agree with someone on everything to admire courage in the face of the everyday. Find me *anything* to admire about Putin or Trump or Vance. Go on, name it. Apologists for genocide, tape, and criminality, now go on. All of you. #StandwithUiraine

28.02.2025 22:52 β€” πŸ‘ 37    πŸ” 5    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

when the encyclopedia hates you

13.02.2025 15:18 β€” πŸ‘ 15    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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If he fits, he sits.

06.02.2025 21:05 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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:) And not this I and not here

06.02.2025 16:13 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Spent the afternoon listening to teenagers reading poetry at a regional Poetry Outloud competition. Rural and suburban and city kids. Black and brown and white kids. LGBTQ kids. Disabled kids. A great escape but also a great reminder: this is what we’re working for. These kids β€” they’re the stakes.

05.02.2025 23:00 β€” πŸ‘ 24    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

I hear you. Sending love and hugs and solidarity...

05.02.2025 22:04 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Well, I thought my poetry collection about Trump 1.0 (and American xenophobia 0.0 and passim) would fade away. But here we are again. And the protests... are also back--from LA high schoolers to Democratic senators in DC. No doubt, the poems will come, too. Here is one of mine, from A LIFE REPLACED.

05.02.2025 21:52 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0
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Feeling proud πŸŽ‰ Teenage author rewriting the myth of Icarus

28.01.2025 15:30 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

10-year-old author, out of nowhere: β€œIf clocks are the eyes of time, what was there before clocks were invented?”
Me: ???!!! Oh! Does it say in Catlantis that clocks are the eyes of time?”
β€œYes. So what eyes did time have before clocks?”
Me …
Author: β€œOh! I know. There must have been coconuts.”

24.01.2025 00:47 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Thank you, dear Suzanne!

22.01.2025 20:29 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Thanks so much to the Mid-Atlantic Review and Gregory Luce for publishing four of my poems. Here's one--for Odesa.

22.01.2025 13:51 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

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