Synkroniciti is honored to welcome poet Kiyoshi Hirawa with “A Brief History of Druzyhna.” This powerful poem was the runner-up in our poetry contest. It tells the story of a grizzled Ukrainian marine, who once had his thumbs removed by the KGB, at his beloved wife’s funeral. During the eulogy, the priest expounds upon the Russian word for wife, zhena, instead of the Ukrainian, druzyhna. Druzyhna has its roots in Slavic history with retainers and advisers in the service of kings who were given this title of companions or friends. The old soldier educates priest and mourners in honor of his wife, who had saved his life at least once, revealing the full extent of his own vulnerability. “Commandeering the lectern,/ his fractured English spilled out/ in not quite haiku, not quite tanka,/ unfolding a three-stanza/ pantomime poem for the woman/ who once caressed his pulpy face with one hand/ and cradled a butcher paper wrap of two thumbs with the other.” Hirawa paints the scene with deep respect but little sentimentality. There is even a tinge of humor as the soldier vents his frustration at not having the right word in English, which makes the experience all the more cutting. The narrator’s manicured verses give way to the soldier’s repetition and bullet-like delivery of single words, creating a drumming music that builds to a crescendo and then slows down into silence, as we find ourselves giving respect to a woman and a culture that is not crushed under pressure. Hirawa’s transcendent poem is partnered with images of the Motherland Statue in Kiev, an enormous woman raising sword and shield in a gesture of protective defiance against tyranny. May she prevail in these dark and difficult days.
Read “A Brief History of Druzhyna” in Synkroniciti’s “Vulnerable” issue, available here: https://synkroniciti.com/the-magazine/purchase-individual-issues/.
Kiyoshi Hirawa is a poet, writer, and former police officer who was wrongfully terminated after reporting sexual misconduct and rape committed by fellow police officers. Most of Hirawa’s work focuses on trauma, resiliency, hope, and providing a voice for the unheard, ignored, and overlooked. The remainder drops a net deep into the ocean of humor, and every once in a while, hauls in a joke (catch and release, of course).