Hutsul poetry and the Russian invasion of Ukraine

Poetry holds a special place for people in Ukraine's Hutsulshchyna region of the Carpathian Mountains, where poets from diverse social backgrounds are quite numerous and where their works are deeply woven into everyday social life. The Russian invasion of Ukraine, however, has brutally and profoundly changed the conditions in which Hutsul poetry is now created and received. This text examines these transformations and argues that poetry currently functions not merely as an artistic expression but as an important medium through which Hutsul social life, regional and national belonging, and wartime losses are rendered endurable.