Nashkrym

NASHKRYM - this anthology of contemporary poetic texts about the Crimea in russian language, which included the works of 120 poets from Russia, Ukraine, Europe, America, Australia and Israel. These, indeed are times of uncertainty, when dialogues are rare and military might appears to determine international order, as if the past had come back to hunt the world. This anthology is titled "NASHKRYM" ("OURCRIMEA") - a sort of a literary juxtaposition to the slogan "KRYMNASH" (Crimea is Ours), which has been coined in Putin's Russia last spring following Russia's annexation of the historic peninsula from Ukraine, and reflects a political and administrative control of Crimea. The logical emphasis in the title of the anthology has a different focus and connotation. Poets, who authored the texts about Crimea - those who love that unique place, and to whom it means a great deal more than just its territorial ownership. They would rather emphasize the importance and the unique self-worth of the peninsula as a subject of historical, cultural and aesthetic reflections. However one looks at the Crimea today, however it figures in conflicts and political games, Crimea, is first and foremost a place for poetry and poets. The anthology may be deemed as poetic peacemaking manifesto, an attempt to return Crimea from the realm of conflict into the realm of literature and intellectual dialogue, from the contentious approach of geopolitics to the more sensible sphere of geopoetics.