Poems from Ukraine: An Indomitable People and Country

with Marika Kuzma

Saturday, April 12, 2025, 3 – 5:15 p.m.

With your $40 fee, $10 will be donated to support our brothers and sisters in Ukraine through the
Humanitarian Relief Fund at St. Michael the Archangel Ukrainian Catholic Church, New Haven, CT

The Mercy For All Scholarship provides support for those experiencing financial challenges.
➔ Learn more and apply here.

About this offering

Ukraine is combatting a formidable adversary. Its fight for survival, sadly, is not new. Amid all of Ukraine’s struggles across centuries, poetry has kept the spirits of its people strong and their sense of identity alive.

In celebration of National Poetry Month, this program will explore Ukraine's vibrant, inspiring poetry. We will begin by reading Ukrainian poetry in English translation, spoken by several actors. The readings will be augmented by photos of the varied Ukrainian landscape with moments of music for reflection. Then, participants will be invited to take a deeper dive into some poems. How does this poetry speak to you, regardless of your heritage, living in America today? We will conclude by giving participants a chance to recite a favorite verse of their choice. The selected poems will span 200 years of verses from some of Ukraine’s most famous poets, from different regions, styles and moods.

For hundreds of years, Ukrainians have written, memorized, and recited poetry as a means of preserving their language and identity. In the 18th and 19th Centuries the Russian Empire tsars issued edicts to forbid the publication of any Ukrainian word. Ukrainians disseminated poems by memorizing and reciting them in public squares. In the 1960's and 70's, Soviet leaders arrested, exiled, and killed poets. Ukrainians preserved their poems by uttering them underground. Now the Russian army is bombing universities, libraries, museums, and houses of worship in a sweeping attempt to destroy all traces of Ukrainianness. Today’s poets are once again defying oppression with their words. Ukrainians have continually emerged from caves, bunkers, prisons, and foxholes to speak eloquently about their lives, loves, and aspirations. Their love of nature, faith, and internal sense of dignity sustains them. Their poetry sends messages of hope and resilience for us all amid the challenges of our current world.

About the presenter

The Ukrainian-American artist Marika Kuzma, has enjoyed a varied career. As an actor, she recently appeared in the film Midas, produced in Hartford, and is currently cast in a production of As You Like It in New York. As a choral and orchestral conductor, she has led concerts in prestigious venues including Zellerbach Hall in Berkeley, CA, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, and St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna. A professor emerita of music at UC Berkeley, she recently published the book Carols of Birds, Bells, and Sacred Hymns from Ukraine.