With the goal of experiencing the emotions and connections felt by the writers of the poems in this collection, we chose three stories and visited the locations around which and about which they were written.
Our first location comes from story #5 “Cosmonautics Day” by Maria Vilkovskaya.
When standing on the intersection of these streets, we considered the changing of names and the alternation of alphabets in Qazaq culture. In the poem Maria discusses the weight associated with these changes and the memories evoked with some of the names. Дзержинский, the original title of the street, was the name of a founder of the Cheka and OGPU–i.e. instrumental in creating the Red Terror. Калинин, the person whose name was used in the first street change, was head of state for the Soviet Union under the rule of Stalin. Despite the little power Калинин had, his relation to Stalin resulted in several streets paying homage to his legacy. In an attempt to assert the independence of the Qazaq Republic, the street was changed a second time to Курмангазы, inspired by a Qazaq poet. The street which intersects Курмангазы was not changed from its original title, Гагарин. The Russian astronaut Юрий Гагарин, as the poem suggests, was responsible not for repression and terror, but happiness and joy. Maria Vilkovskaya recalls how her mother hugged passersby in the streets of Moscow when he flew to space. As a prominent Russian figure his namesake establishes the ties back to the Russian colonization of Qazaqstan, especially due to the fact that his rocket left from Baikonur (an aeronautics station which borders Qazaq territory). This location exemplifies a physical and cultural intersection of Russian and Qazaq culture and the choices made in preserving parts of the past versus changes made to illustrate an independent future.
Our second location was happened upon as we were travelling to what became our third location. Instead of taking the bus, we decided to take the metro, which we then remembered was the location and inspiration for story #20 “Timing (Metro Guide)” written by the same poet, Maria Vilkovskaya.
This poem reflects a focus on the urgency and emotions of a fleeting relationship. It is written to resemble the documentation of events which must occur in a timely manner. When combined with a third person perspective the poem conveys an objective and analytical viewpoint, despite the emotional subject matter. The author utilizes small details such as the ads flashing on a screen nearby, to ground the narrative in a relatable experience for the reader. These details additionally exemplify the analytical nature of the speaker, while simultaneously acting in contrast to the significance of the relationship in question. While the narrator is experiencing the division from a partner, life continues on without much contention. When reading this story in the environment where it was written the narratives of each individual are drowned out by the sounds of the oncoming trains and the flashing of advertisements about theater performances. In order to explore the specific emotions of the poem, we discussed how relationships can come and go like trains, some are intended to meet while others simply fly past each other.
On a larger scale, we noticed that the mural at the end of the train station is still there, depicting the Silk Road, a legendary phenomenon in the history of trade, evoking how history is documented in large movements and events rather than through individual narratives. While the narrator of the poem was actively experiencing a life change, her story was not as powerful as the legacy of the Silk Road, the poem acts as the documentation of her story which would otherwise be lost in the see of train passengers.
Our last location comes from story #12 “If You Wait by the River Long Enough…” by Lilya Kalaus.
This poem presents the happenings of a normal day as if they follow scientific law–if you sit in a restaurant, discuss certain subjects, and drink some wine, then people you know will just float past you. Like each story from this collection, the poem depicts a specific chain of events as they could only happen in this location. Since it was written inside the golden square, the region that is said to have the best city-life, naturally there would be a lot of friends nearby. Cafes that are heavily trafficked would of course be located in the heart of the city. Kalaus chose to use the imagery of a river to emphasize this unconscious movement of people and the expected events which happen when traveling down a well known path. From a purely factual standpoint the inspiration for this metaphor may derive from the natural incline upon which Almaty was built. If it was raining the slope from the mountains would naturally create a river flowing downwards. Because the rain drowns out the expected sounds of engines on a busy street, the author portrays her thoughts in a slightly altered state of mind one may experience when overwhelmed by sounds and feelings. Through this the author’s narrative conveys how she cannot quite tell if the people walking by the window are really people she knows or just similar faces. This is perhaps related to her claim that the laws of the universe are chaos, which is a system we are unable to grasp, so we must just sit back and experience them.
