"Violets will sprout in spring": In memory of warrior and poet Maksym Kryvtsov
Ukrainian warrior and poet Maksym Kryvtsov died in battle against the Russian invaders at the age of 33. His book "Virshi z biinytsi" ("Poems from the Battlefield" - ed. note) was recognized as one of the best Ukrainian books of 2023 by PEN Ukraine.
When Russians invaded Donbas, Maksym went to war as a volunteer fighter in 2014.
Later, he worked at the Center for Rehabilitation and Readaptation of Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO) and Joint Forces Operation (JFO) Participants and Veteran Hub. However, after the start of Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, he returned to the front again. Maksym died, having not lived 15 days before his 34th birthday.
In May 2019, Censor.NET published an interview with Maksym Kryvtsov. The poems of the warrior and the poet were also published on the website.
The death of the soldier and poet was reported in the comments to his post by his mother, Nadiia Kryvtsova: "My precious son will sprout violets... oh, God," recalling lines from one of her son's last poems.
"My head rolls from tree to tree
like a tumbleweed
or a ball
from my severed arms
violets will sprout in the spring," reads Kryvtsov's poem.
Writer Liubko Deresh, reporting on Maksym's death, quotes an excerpt from the synopsis of his novel, which will never be finished: "When we come back from rotations and drive home in the car, we don't feel happy, even though we want to go back. I guess. We feel one thing - emptiness. One common emptiness, collective as memory. We are choking on it and suffocating from its fumes. So. I want to tell you about a high-rise building, on the 77th floor of which the office of the Zabuttia TV channel is located. The entire story will take place within the framework of the most horrific program in the world, the War talk show.
Deresh recalled that he had communicated with Kryvtsov and taught classes where he was a student on the Voices of War veteran program: "A very heartsome, witty, extremely talented person."
On 6 January, on the birthday of the poet Vasyl Stus, Maksym recited poems: "Tell me, was Modigliani an idiot?" and "In this field, blue as flax".
Kryvtsov noted: "The Soviet Union is not about cheap, tasty sausage, but about torture, about how they tried to kill the word that has been around for centuries, how they forbade us to think and feel. And then the dissident poets appear in the imagination as superheroes, whom they were. There is an indescribable longing and honor and respect for each of them."
Maksym reads Stus's poems
Volunteer and soldier Lesya Lytvynova emphasized: "Listen, you are not 'born for war'... No one was born for it. Maksym Kryvtsov was an extremely bright man. He was a poet. He was not a warrior. But he died. He died like a man. Like a warrior."
Maksym Kryvtsov reads his poem "Where are my dreams?", which was included in the book "Virshi z biinytsi" ("Poems from the Battlefield")
Film director and writer Iryna Tsilyk said that about a week ago she received his newly published book of poetry from Maksym, which he was so proud of.
"At the stage of the submission, he consulted me about the selection of poems, the structure of the collector of poems, and all sorts of little things. I was sincerely happy to write a review for the cover because I really love his poems. When I received the book, I just put it on the shelf. I thought I would read it later and see how it turned out in the end... The thought that this is his dream book that happened to him, but he didn't have time to enjoy it properly, it's enough to make me cry.
Censor.NET Editor-in-Chief and journalist Yurii Butusov said:
"Friend, you are such a part of life for many of us, you are one of the creators of our world... Friend Dali, a volunteer of the Right Sector, a fighter of the National Guard Rapid Response Brigade 3018, a fighter of the Special Operations Forces from the first day of the war. A machine gunner poet. Thank you for the book of poems. I will never forget...".
Maksym Kryvtsov reads Vasyl Symonenko's poem "I peer intently in your eyes...".
The leader of the band Yurcash, Yurko Yurchenko, said that he and Maksym Kryvtsov had written three songs ("Zhovtyi Skotch" ("Yellow Scotch" - ed. note), "Vin v ZSU, vona v TRO" ("He's in the Armed Forces, She's in the TDF (Territorial Defense Forces) - ed. note)", "Panivna Vysota" ("Dominant Height" - ed. note)) and they were planning another album.
"His poems strike at the heart, tear at the soul because they are written from a front line from the epicenter of events. He was so excited about his first collection, "Virshi z biinytsi" ("Poems from the Battlefield" )... He gave it to me for the New Year. We were already choosing poems for new songs... Maks, my brother, I can't and won't talk about you in the past... You will always be alive in poems, songs and in our memory! We will take revenge!!!" he added.
The musician has released a video for the song "Zhovtyi Skotch" ("Yellow Scotch" - ed. note). The composition is based on the poem "The Legend of Yellow Scotch" by Maksym Kryvtsov. The song became the soundtrack for the feature film "Nashi Kotyky" ("Our Cats" - ed. note).
The leader of the Ot Vinta band, Yurii Zhuravel, recalls Maksym: "I noticed that the cats were with you all the time. From the beginning to the last day. In the movie "Nashi Kotyky" ("Our Cats"), the song with your lyrics was sung by Yurkesh, and it was supposed to be done by Keith Richards (he failed). Your childhood friend, my dear wife Natalia Somchyk, will tell us about your childhood cats, and we will add you to the KNOW OURS project. Now I will look through your poems and start writing a song to add to the repertoire of the OT VINTA band. We will never forget you!"
