“King Radio” by Olena Jennings
His father climbed
radio towers
to take care of the antennas,
instilling in him a love
for radio. He listened to programs
before bed, the sound
in the background of sleep,
like his father’s voice. In the radio station,
there was beauty in the organization
of the electronics. They emanated warmth.
His father’s voice
came to him
in his dreams, having passed away,
falling from a truck,
rather than from the heights.
As a consequence, he loved heights,
climbing up church towers,
Holy Hill and Notre Dame,
looking out at the vastness
of the world, the sound waves.
The heights are what would have saved
his father,
being above it all,
the rushing truck,
soaring.
Artist’s Statement
I often build my poetry on a foundation of truth. Sometimes the truth comes in the form of photos and sometimes in the form of a memory. Memory is important, other people’s as well as my own. I think about the parts of other lives that I have heard about so much that they have become my own memories. I think about the less tangible aspects of memory that come in the form of a simple emotion.
My poetry is about connections. Small events weave themselves together in ways that are unexpected to me. When I see the connection, I have made the poem.
In my poetry, I explore Ukrainian cultural identity. With this comes the influence of another language on my writing. Ukrainian sayings sometimes make their way into my work in translation. I have also recently begun translating poetry into textile art. I start with fabric. I sew it into traditional clothing items that I embellish with embroidery, natural dye, wax, and other materials.
Olena Jennings is the author of the poetry collection The Age of Secrets (Lost Horse Press), the chapbook Memory Project, and the novel Temporary Shelter (Cervena Barva Press). She is the translator or co-translator of collections by Ukrainian poets Kateryna Kalytko (co-translated with Oksana Lutsyshyna), Iryna Shuvalova, Vasyl Makhno, and Yuliya Musakovska. Her translation of Anna Malihon’s Girl with a Bullet is forthcoming in 2025 from World Poetry Books. She lives in Queens, New York where she founded and co-curates the Poets of Queens reading series and press.
