9781787334892

CHARLOTTE SHEVCHENKO KNIGHT

Food for the Dead

CAPE POETRY

FOOD FOR THE DEAD

Charlotte Shevchenko Knight CAPE POETRY

Jonathan Cape is part of the Penguin Random House group of companies whose addresses can be found at global.penguinrandomhouse.com

Charlotte Shevchenko Knight has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this Work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

First published in the United Kingdom by Jonathan Cape in 2024

penguin.co.uk/vintage

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

isbn 9781787334892

Typeset in 11/13pt Bembo Book MT Pro by Jouve (UK), Milton Keynes

Printed and bound in Great Britain by TJ International Ltd, Padstow, Cornwall

The authorised representative in the EEA is Penguin Random House Ireland, Morrison Chambers, 32 Nassau Street, Dublin D 02 YH 68

Penguin Random House is committed to a sustainable future for our business, our readers and our planet. This book is made from Forest Stewardship Council® certified paper.

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When the guest has gone, the morsels dropped on the floor are left as food for the dead – O my characters, my imagined, here are some fancies of crumbs from under love’s table.

Sharon Olds, ‘The Unswept’

vii CONTENTS a gathering of lozhky 1 generational hazard 2 бабусі – gran D mot H ers 5 theory of transference 7 god is watching 8 babusya’s arms 9 peonies on the ground 10 babusya’s heart was cold 11 orange peel 12 food for the dead 13 life & no escape 14 голод – H unger 15 i know what you do with the milk 17 poetry feeds the soul 18 sonnet on ethics 19 a cardboard box 20 lenin square, 1967 21 a timeline of hunger 22 kid you weren’t wrong 33 morning friend 34 happy violence 35 жмур – corpse 37 radiant summers 39 everything not saved will be lost 40 maiden name 41

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