Poetry International Poetry International
Poem

Serhiy Zhadan

THE MUSHROOMS OF DONBAS

In spring Donbas disappears in the fog, and the sun hides behind heaps of earth.
So you need to know where you’re going,
you need to know the man who can make the arrangements.

This man was a worker in the former pumping station
worn down by alcohol.
When we met, he said, “We, the workers of the pumping station,
were always considered the elite of the proletariat, yeah, the elite.
When everything fell the fuck apart, many
just put their hands down. But not the workers
of the pumping station, not us.
We organized an independent mining union,
we took over three buildings of the former plant
and started to grow mushrooms there.”

“Mushrooms?” I couldn’t believe it.
“Yes. Mushrooms. We wanted to grow cactus with mescaline, but
cactus won’t grow here in Donbas.

You know what’s important when you grow mushrooms?
It’s important to get high, that’s right, friend – it’s important to get high.
We get high, believe me, even now we have to get high, maybe it’s because
we are the elite of the proletariat.

And so – we take over three buildings and start our mushrooms.
Well, there’s – the joy of work, elbow grease,
you know – the heady feeling of work and accomplishment.
And what’s more important – everyone gets high! Everyone’s high even without mushrooms!

The problems began a few months later. This is gangland
territory, you know, recently a gas station was burnt down,
they were so eager to burn it down, they didn’t even manage to
fill up, so of course the police caught them.
And so, one gang decides to take us on, decides to take away
our mushrooms, can you believe it? I think in our place anyone else
would have bent over, that’s the way it is – everyone bends over here,
according to the social hierarchy.

But we get together and think – well, mushrooms – this is a good thing,
it’s not a matter of mushrooms, or elbow grease,
or even the pumping station, although this was one of the arguments.
We just thought – they are coming up, they will grow
our mushrooms will grow, you could say they’ll ripen to harvest
and what are we going to tell our children, how are we going to look them in the eye?
There are just things you have to answer for, things
you can’t just let go.
You are responsible for your penicillin,
and I am responsible for mine.

In a word, we just fought for our mushroom plantations. There we
beat them. And when they fell on the warm hearts of the mushrooms
we thought:

Everything that you make with your hands, works for you.
Everything that reaches your conscience beats
in rhythm with your heart.
We stayed on this land, so that it wouldn’t be far
for our children to visit our graves.
This is our island of freedom
our expanded
village consciousness.
Penicillin and Kalashnikovs – two symbols of struggle,
the Castro of Donbas leads the partisans
through the fog-covered mushroom plantations
to the Azov Sea.


“You know,” he told me, “at night, when everyone falls asleep
and the dark land sucks up the fog,
I feel how the earth moves around the sun, even in my dreams
I listen, listen to how they grow –

the mushrooms of Donbas, silent chimeras of the night,
emerging out of the emptiness, growing out of hard coal,
till hearts stand still, like elevators in buildings at night,
the mushrooms of Donbas grow and grow, never letting the discouraged
and condemned die of grief,
because, man, as long as we’re together,
there’s someone to dig up this earth,
and find in its warm innards
the black stuff of death
the black stuff of life.

PADDENSTOELEN VAN DE DONBAS

In de lente verzinkt de Donbas in de mist, en de zon verstopt zich achter de heuvels.
Want je moet deze plaats kennen,
je moet weten met wie je afspraken maakt.

Het was een arbeider van een voormalig pompgebouw,
een kerel gehavend door de alcohol.
“Wij, arbeiders van het pompgebouw”, zei hij toen we kennismaakten,
“werden altijd als de elite van het proletariaat beschouwd, ja man, de elite.
Indertijd, toen alles naar de kloten ging, waren er heel wat
die de moed lieten zakken. Maar niet zo de werkers
van het pompgebouw, ha nee, wij niet.
We brachten de onafhankelijke mijnwerkersbonden samen,
bezetten drie gebouwen van een voormalige fabriek
en begonnen daar paddenstoelen te kweken.”

“Hoezo paddenstoelen?”, vroeg ik ongelovig.
“Ja. Paddenstoelen. We wilden cactussen met mescaline kweken, maar bij ons
in de Donbas, gedijen cactussen niet goed.”

“Weet je wat het belangrijkste is, wanneer je paddenstoelen kweekt?
Het belangrijkste is high te zijn, maat, zo is dat – high zijn is het belangrijkste.
En óf we high waren, geloof me, ook nu nog trouwens, misschien omdat
we ten slotte toch de elite van het proletariaat zijn.

“Nou, en dus bezetten we die drie gebouwen en zaaiden daar onze paddenstoelen uit.
Nou, en daar had je dan de arbeidsvreugde, dat schouder-aan-schoudergevoel,
je kent dat wel het dronken makende gevoel van arbeidsprestaties.
En het belangrijkste: iedereen tript! Iedereen, zelfs zonder paddenstoelen!”

“De problemen begonnen al een paar maanden later. Het is hier een zware
wijk, dat heb je zelf gezien, onlangs staken ze nog een tankstation in de fik,
maar de politie rolde ze ter plaatse op, ze hadden zelfs geen tijd
om te tanken, zo erg waren ze erop gebrand om vlammen te zien.
En toen was er die brigade die ons kwam lastigvallen, die onze paddenstoelen
meenam, beeld je eens in. Ik denk dat in onze plaats om het even wie
was bezweken, zo gaat dat dan – iedereen bezwijkt,
ieder in overeenstemming met zijn sociale status.”

“Maar wij kwamen samen, en we dachten: oké, paddenstoelen, dat is oké,
maar het gaat niet om de paddenstoelen, en evenmin om het schouder-aan-schoudergevoel,
en zelfs niet om het pompgebouw, hoewel dat een argument was.
We dachten gewoon: kijk straks komt onze oogst op en groeien
onze paddenstoelen, ze zullen groeien en, om zo te zeggen, aren schieten,
en wat zullen we onze kinderen vertellen, wanneer we hun in de ogen kijken?
Er zijn gewoon van die dingen waar je verantwoordelijk voor bent, waar je
niet zomaar even de brui aan geeft.
Kijk jij bent verantwoordelijk voor jouw penicilline
en ik voor de mijne.”

“In één woord, we gingen gewoon vechten op de paddenstoelenplantage. Daar
hakten we hen in de pan. En terwijl zij vielen op de warme harten van de paddenstoelen,
dachten wij:

Alles wat je met eigen handen maakt, werkt voor jou.
Alles wat je door je eigen geweten laat gaan, klopt
op de maat van je hartslag.
We bleven op deze grond, opdat het voor onze kinderen niet ver
zou zijn om onze graven te bezoeken.
Dit is ons eiland van vrijheid,
het verruimde bewustzijn
van de landbouw.
Penicilline en Kalasjnikov: twee symbolen van strijd,
de Castro van de Donbas leidt partizanen
door de mistige paddenstoelenplantages
tot aan de Zee van Azov.


“Weet je”, zei hij me, “’s nachts wanneer iedereen in slaap valt,
en de donkere aarde de mist opzuigt,
voel ik zelfs in mijn dromen, hoe de aarde om de zon beweegt,
luister ik, luister ik hoe ze groeien:

de paddenstoelen van de Donbas, de onhoorbare chimera’s van de nacht,
oprijzend uit leegte, groeiend uit steenkool,
terwijl de harten stilstaan, als liften in nachtelijke gebouwen,
groeien de paddenstoelen van de Donbas, groeien ze terwijl ze niemand
die ontgoocheld of verloren is van weemoed laten sterven,
want, mijn beste, zolang we samen zijn,
wordt er gewoeld in deze grond
en vindt men in haar warme binnenste
het zwart van de dood,
het zwart van het leven.

Гриби Донбасу

Close

THE MUSHROOMS OF DONBAS

In spring Donbas disappears in the fog, and the sun hides behind heaps of earth.
So you need to know where you’re going,
you need to know the man who can make the arrangements.

This man was a worker in the former pumping station
worn down by alcohol.
When we met, he said, “We, the workers of the pumping station,
were always considered the elite of the proletariat, yeah, the elite.
When everything fell the fuck apart, many
just put their hands down. But not the workers
of the pumping station, not us.
We organized an independent mining union,
we took over three buildings of the former plant
and started to grow mushrooms there.”

“Mushrooms?” I couldn’t believe it.
“Yes. Mushrooms. We wanted to grow cactus with mescaline, but
cactus won’t grow here in Donbas.

You know what’s important when you grow mushrooms?
It’s important to get high, that’s right, friend – it’s important to get high.
We get high, believe me, even now we have to get high, maybe it’s because
we are the elite of the proletariat.

And so – we take over three buildings and start our mushrooms.
Well, there’s – the joy of work, elbow grease,
you know – the heady feeling of work and accomplishment.
And what’s more important – everyone gets high! Everyone’s high even without mushrooms!

The problems began a few months later. This is gangland
territory, you know, recently a gas station was burnt down,
they were so eager to burn it down, they didn’t even manage to
fill up, so of course the police caught them.
And so, one gang decides to take us on, decides to take away
our mushrooms, can you believe it? I think in our place anyone else
would have bent over, that’s the way it is – everyone bends over here,
according to the social hierarchy.

But we get together and think – well, mushrooms – this is a good thing,
it’s not a matter of mushrooms, or elbow grease,
or even the pumping station, although this was one of the arguments.
We just thought – they are coming up, they will grow
our mushrooms will grow, you could say they’ll ripen to harvest
and what are we going to tell our children, how are we going to look them in the eye?
There are just things you have to answer for, things
you can’t just let go.
You are responsible for your penicillin,
and I am responsible for mine.

In a word, we just fought for our mushroom plantations. There we
beat them. And when they fell on the warm hearts of the mushrooms
we thought:

Everything that you make with your hands, works for you.
Everything that reaches your conscience beats
in rhythm with your heart.
We stayed on this land, so that it wouldn’t be far
for our children to visit our graves.
This is our island of freedom
our expanded
village consciousness.
Penicillin and Kalashnikovs – two symbols of struggle,
the Castro of Donbas leads the partisans
through the fog-covered mushroom plantations
to the Azov Sea.


“You know,” he told me, “at night, when everyone falls asleep
and the dark land sucks up the fog,
I feel how the earth moves around the sun, even in my dreams
I listen, listen to how they grow –

the mushrooms of Donbas, silent chimeras of the night,
emerging out of the emptiness, growing out of hard coal,
till hearts stand still, like elevators in buildings at night,
the mushrooms of Donbas grow and grow, never letting the discouraged
and condemned die of grief,
because, man, as long as we’re together,
there’s someone to dig up this earth,
and find in its warm innards
the black stuff of death
the black stuff of life.

THE MUSHROOMS OF DONBAS

In spring Donbas disappears in the fog, and the sun hides behind heaps of earth.
So you need to know where you’re going,
you need to know the man who can make the arrangements.

This man was a worker in the former pumping station
worn down by alcohol.
When we met, he said, “We, the workers of the pumping station,
were always considered the elite of the proletariat, yeah, the elite.
When everything fell the fuck apart, many
just put their hands down. But not the workers
of the pumping station, not us.
We organized an independent mining union,
we took over three buildings of the former plant
and started to grow mushrooms there.”

“Mushrooms?” I couldn’t believe it.
“Yes. Mushrooms. We wanted to grow cactus with mescaline, but
cactus won’t grow here in Donbas.

You know what’s important when you grow mushrooms?
It’s important to get high, that’s right, friend – it’s important to get high.
We get high, believe me, even now we have to get high, maybe it’s because
we are the elite of the proletariat.

And so – we take over three buildings and start our mushrooms.
Well, there’s – the joy of work, elbow grease,
you know – the heady feeling of work and accomplishment.
And what’s more important – everyone gets high! Everyone’s high even without mushrooms!

The problems began a few months later. This is gangland
territory, you know, recently a gas station was burnt down,
they were so eager to burn it down, they didn’t even manage to
fill up, so of course the police caught them.
And so, one gang decides to take us on, decides to take away
our mushrooms, can you believe it? I think in our place anyone else
would have bent over, that’s the way it is – everyone bends over here,
according to the social hierarchy.

But we get together and think – well, mushrooms – this is a good thing,
it’s not a matter of mushrooms, or elbow grease,
or even the pumping station, although this was one of the arguments.
We just thought – they are coming up, they will grow
our mushrooms will grow, you could say they’ll ripen to harvest
and what are we going to tell our children, how are we going to look them in the eye?
There are just things you have to answer for, things
you can’t just let go.
You are responsible for your penicillin,
and I am responsible for mine.

In a word, we just fought for our mushroom plantations. There we
beat them. And when they fell on the warm hearts of the mushrooms
we thought:

Everything that you make with your hands, works for you.
Everything that reaches your conscience beats
in rhythm with your heart.
We stayed on this land, so that it wouldn’t be far
for our children to visit our graves.
This is our island of freedom
our expanded
village consciousness.
Penicillin and Kalashnikovs – two symbols of struggle,
the Castro of Donbas leads the partisans
through the fog-covered mushroom plantations
to the Azov Sea.


“You know,” he told me, “at night, when everyone falls asleep
and the dark land sucks up the fog,
I feel how the earth moves around the sun, even in my dreams
I listen, listen to how they grow –

the mushrooms of Donbas, silent chimeras of the night,
emerging out of the emptiness, growing out of hard coal,
till hearts stand still, like elevators in buildings at night,
the mushrooms of Donbas grow and grow, never letting the discouraged
and condemned die of grief,
because, man, as long as we’re together,
there’s someone to dig up this earth,
and find in its warm innards
the black stuff of death
the black stuff of life.
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Gemeente Rotterdam
Nederlands Letterenfonds
Stichting Van Beuningen Peterich-fonds
Ludo Pieters Gastschrijver Fonds
Lira fonds
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