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Konstantin Kulakov
​

Materials for a Post-Soviet Film

i.

amerikansty

In Tula, England hung from our walls. Oxford leaned from the pots until, one Sunday, tall 
suitcases shrunk the living room. Cigarette in the toilet bowl. Russian girls perfuming themselves 
in my mother’s room. Boys drinking kompot straight from the pitcher.
​
In the months when they stayed with us, they would bring plastic airplanes, neon snowsuits, 
board games. They would bring English names, adoption papers, talk of insomnia.
​
They knew my mom could dress a table, or at the grocery, turn the flurries of Cyrillic into English. 
They knew she could tell the girl crying on our couch: vse budet horosho

ii.

shot list

Sashka’s adoptive parents return from the orphanage and sit in the dining room. Sashka is 
jumping on the couch.

                                                                                        *


The parent’s eyebrows reconfigure. They say “Scott, easy on that couch. You’ll break it.” 
Subtitle: In Russian, Scott is the word signifying livestock.

                                                                                        *


Sashka does not listen. He has something more important to convey. He jumps on the couch 
because he is starring in a movie.

                                                                                        *


His parents move in their seats. They think about the toys they brought, how they shine, 
shouting “Scott! Scott!”

                                                                                        *


The CAMERA moves in on Sashka. His face is charged with energy and his eyes burn with 
knowledge. Sashka continues to jump, shouting “Nikakoi ya ne Scott. Ya Sashka Kyrov!”

Subtitle: I am no Scott; I am Sashka Kyrov!

                                                                                        *

Sashka is jumping and his parents continue to shout “Scott! Scott!” He holds a metallic firetruck 
and shouts “I am Sashka Kyrov!”

--
​Konstantin Kulakov (he/they) is a poet and translator born in Zaoksky, Soviet Union. His poems and translations appear or are forthcoming in Spillway, Phoebe, Harvard Journal 
of African American Policy, Tahoma Literary Review, Passengers Journal, and Loch Raven Review, among others. They hold an MFA in Creative Writing from Naropa University and are co-founding editor of Pocket Samovar magazine. They live in Washington, D.C., on occupied Piscataway and Anacostan land.




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  • Issue #27 Spring 2024
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    • Issue #27 Poetry Spring 2024 >
      • Terry Belew Spring 2024
      • Dustin Brookshire​ & Diamond Forde Spring 2024 Spring 2024
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      • Charlie Coleman Spring 2024
      • Isabelle Doyle Spring 2024
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      • Lynne Thompson Spring 2024
      • Natalie Tombasco Spring 2024
      • Alexandra van de Kamp Spring 2024
      • Donna Vorreyer Spring 2024
    • Fiction #27 Spring 2024 >
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      • Riley Manning Spring 2024
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      • Beth Sherman Spring 2024
    • Nonfiction #27 Spring 2024 >
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  • Issue #28 Fall 2024
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    • Issue #28 Poetry Fall 2024 >
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      • Sarah Jack Fall 2024
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      • Ae Hee Lee Fall 2024
      • Svetlana Litvinchuk Fall 2024
      • Mary Lou Buschi Fall 2024
      • Angie Macri Fall 2024
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      • Camille Newsom Fall 2024
      • Elizabeth O'Connell- Thompson Fall 2024
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      • Diane Raptosh Fall 2024
      • Isaac Richards Fall 2024
      • Robyn Schelenz Fall 2024
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      • Alex Tretbar Fall 2024
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      • Shannon K. Winston Fall 2024
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      • Anne Gerard Fall 2024
    • Issue #28 Fiction Fall 2024 >
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  • Issue #29 Spring 2025
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      • Irina Greciuhina Spring 2025
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      • Na Yoon Amelia Cha-Ryu Spring 2025
    • Issue #29 Poetry Spring 2025 >
      • Deborah Bacharach Spring 2025
      • Diego Báez Spring 2025
      • Jaswinder Bolina Spring 2025
      • ​Ash Bowen Spring 2025
      • Christian J. Collier Spring 2025
      • ​Shou Jie Eng Spring 2025
      • Sara Fitzpatrick Spring 2025
      • Matthew Gilbert Spring 2025
      • Tammy C. Greenwood Spring 2025
      • Alejandra Hernández ​Spring 2025
      • Ben Kline ​Spring 2025
      • ​David Moolten Spring 2025
      • ​Tamer Mostafa Spring 2025
      • ​Rongfei Mu Spring 2025
      • Cynthia Neely Spring 2025
      • Pablo Otavalo Spring 2025
      • ​Bleah Patterson Spring 2025
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      • Alexandra van de Kamp Spring 2025
      • ​Cassandra Whitaker Spring 2025
      • Angelique Zobitz Spring 2025
    • Issue #29 Fiction Spring 2025 >
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      • K. J. Coyle Spring 2025
      • Meredith MacLeod Davidson Spring 2025
      • Jessica Mosher Spring 2025
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      • Qurrat ul Ain Raza Abbas Spring 2025