Ali Kinsella has been translating from Ukrainian for eight years. Her published works include essays, poetry, monographs, and subtitles to various films. She holds an MA from Columbia University, where she wrote a thesis on the intersection of feminism and nationalism in small states. A former Peace Corps volunteer, Ali lived in Ukraine for nearly five years. She is currently in Chicago, where she also sometimes works as a baker.
Stumbling Among Stars Of a despairing world How sweetly and quickly your heart beat.That, I remember. But snowwas already coming from the Dniprosticking to our eyes and glasses,wrapping parks and boulevards with the smell of rumpled wet fur. Let’s walk together, you and I. It’s snowing in Kyiv and Lviv.It’s raining in Lima and Paris.So much that at this late hour we can… Read more →
No love is happiness, especially like this:a face clamped in a handful, lifted upto an impatient, grinning mouth.Maybe you, too, want to avoid the tip of a knife—only the meek, sacrificial, avian soulcan give steel molecules a taste of sweet blood. Every love is unhappiness, especially mine:it stands near the bed like a small half-wit,looking tenderly, asking for harmless comfort.Yet… Read more →