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APRIL SNOW NEW YORK WOMAN Thunder is heard above April snow A New York woman sits lightly shadowed like old, lightly bent but sleek photographs of drifting into stone crevices where rose moss hides. a glamorous Garbo *** Her black hair pulls back fasionably Red lipstick accents her face as FIREFLIES She sits draped in a long classic, could be French, black dress, Drinking slowly in the night Green porcelain fireflies Doorway in the lower 60’s She could be sitting in a sleek white limousine evoking the sun except for the dust stand in the deep river trees. But what’s a little dust between friends? NIGHT RAIN Night rain chilling the bedroom window... the wet drops miniature Poems by Olga Pelensky from her collection Prussian plums blue with frost. “T ransformations” Continued: Ukrainian Natl. Women’s League However, in my college days, when I joined the Plast organization and wholeheartly supported its work, a new conflict arose between UNWL and myself. In 1937 the Plast ideological journal “Fires” carried an article which in a mocking fashion criticized a story by Zynay- da Mirna, concerning women as wage earners. The arti cle appeared in “The New House”, another popular women’s magazine of that day. The editors of UNWL’s publication “Women” reacted rather strongly in print to the whole situation, which filtered down to our family and created a mother-daughter “ideological revolution.” Although deep in my heart I never really supported “Fires” on this issue, I nevertheless loudly defended their position, and continued my dedicated work for the organization. The uncertain political climate preceeding the ad vent of the Second World War, the Polish government’s ban on UNWL activities, the organization of a political women’s group “Warriors of Princess Olha”, and a con flict between the leadership of UNWLA and Ukrainian National Democratic League due to an election boycott by Ukrainian women, dwarfed our domestic discord. We found ourselves living in very turbulent times. The persecution of Ukrainians by the Polish govern ment, the events in Karpathian Ukraine, and the still fresh memory of the murder of Eugene Konowalec’s uncle, made all other things seem unimportant. This state of affairs contributed to a maturing process which allowed me to view my negative feelings toward UNWL in a totally different perspective. Surprising myself, I began to admire the dedication and indestructible energy with which my mother and her associate approached their work for the UNWL. As a student of journalism, I appreciated the technical and editorial quality of UNWL’s magazine “Woman”, which I read religiously and to which I contributed my literary efforts. I even enjoyed visiting UNWL headquarters, per haps because now my young instructors from Plast were engaged in various projects there. Reaching adulthood, I spouted my own brand of women’s lib philosophy. A woman who is an individual in the full meaning of the word can stand on equal par with a man whenever she chooses to do so, I would pro claim. I was not a great fan of the “women’s movement” and considered it an outdated idea and a waste of time. People, I would say, respect individuality in a person, regardless of sex. Only recently I realized that it was my mother and her dedicated cohorts in UNWL, who paved the way for my espousing these ideas with which I have lived all my life. It is disconcerning for me to realize that this philosophy was instilled in me at a time when I con sidered the organization a “rival.” Translated by Marta Baczynsky as appeared in Ukrainian O UR LIFE, M arch/A pril '84 НАШЕ Ж ИТТЯ”, ТРАВЕНЬ-ЧЕРВЕНЬ 1984 29
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