Last night, the siren’s call went silent. Temperate rain poured from a tumultuous sky. The smell of dust and rust and asphalt filled my nostrils as I sat at the window, staring up into the cloudy abyss.
Sleep came uneasily.
I awoke with no power. I took a shower with the hot water left in the heater. Out of habit, I poured “hot” water from the electric kettle over instant coffee. It was less than desirable. I am now sitting at my computer, tap-tap-tapping away at the keys, sipping jailhouse coffee.
It’s been almost 3 weeks since I’ve experienced any internet or power disruptions.
We’ve been really lucky. I think Kharkiv, because of its critical industries and role in the war, is actually facing less power disruption than the rest of Ukraine lately. The worst outages we experienced here were during the first couple weeks of May. Since then, we’ve basically been living on that “Ukrainian Spark” of ingenuity and innovation that doesn’t get directly reported on, so that the Russians can’t destroy it.
Kyiv has been hit pretty hard by blackouts this week.
It reminds me of a line of poetry I wrote back in December 2022:
Electric Lady
Dark City
Running Late
And Looking Pretty
That “Ukrainian Spark” is still alive and well in 2024.
Slava Ukraini!
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