***
Poetry must begin and end with silence
Poetry must end its silence
Poetry must never end
Poetry is the silence of those shot at the wall
Poetry is shots at the wall
Poetry is death that introduces us to god
Poetry is god
Poetry is fiction
Poetry doesn’t exist
_______________
Mykyta Ryzhykh
Review by Zeke Sanchez
The poem “***” by Mykyta Ryzhykh is a circular question of sorts. One might also say, of “contradictions.” How can it end its silence, yet end its silence and never end? Again, like another poem in this issue, *** comes across to me as sort of an assortment of koans. It seems to point to the inadequacy of logical reasoning. Again, in the last stanza, the first two lines tell you what poetry IS, while the final line tells you that IT ISN’T. Yet, amidst all of this I am left with a feeling that underneath the seeming bewilderment of contradictions, there is a web of truth holding the poem together. It just requires a higher intelligence, or a more determined effort to mine its depth.