Chen-ou Liu's Translation Project: First English-Chinese Haiku and Tanka Blog

Tuesday, April 5, 2022

Russian Withdrawal from Bucha

a row of houses
piled into rubble
smokey twilight

trees blackened 
by a cloud of ravens 
blood-stained doll 

a Ukrainian's stare ...
his shadow slips 
into a mass grave


FYI: Reuters, April 4: Biden urges Putin war crimes trial after Bucha killings

You saw what happened in Bucha... This warrants [Putin] - he is a war criminal...We have to gather the information. We have to continue to provide Ukraine with the weapons they need to continue the fight. And we have to get all the detail so this can be an actual, have a war crimes trial.

Los Angeles Times, April 5:  Bucha isn't just a graveyard of Ukrainian dead, it's a cemetery of Russian weapons

... The people “were killed in apartments, houses, blown up by grenades,” President Volodymyr Zelensky told the United Nations on Tuesday, adding that some in civilian cars “were crushed by tanks ... in the middle of the road. For fun.”

... As they gather up the dead, officials and the military are also engaged in another task: clearing up the many mines, piles of unexploded ordnance and other battle detritus left behind in Bucha and other formerly occupied towns. Signs warning, “Danger: Mines,” dot the area. Some buildings may be booby-trapped, the military warns.


Added:

Bombshell Words Hang in the Air

PutinPutin ...
a war veteran murmurs, 
in a time machine
togetherwearehurtling
into the glorious past

one sanction
after another, another ...
one pile of bodies
on top of another
in smoky twilight