Yevtushenko Reads Yevtushenko
WOMPA
July 19, 2024
If you haven’t been to WOMPA yet, I’ll start by saying it’s unlike anything else in the city. It holds offices, event spaces, a hair salon, a screenprinting studio, vendors, art galleries, places to cook out, Airbnbs. Most of all, though, it feels like a place you can go, be, and maybe spark some creativity of your own, whether or not you think of yourself as an artist. It’s packed with color, antique and vintage-looking decor, extravagant rugs, maximalist-chic sitting areas.
A great place for a poetry night. Last weekend it saw a special poetry tribute: One of Tulsa’s best literary citizens (and literary talent in his own right), Zhenya Yevtushenko, hosted a reading in honor of his late father, the great poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko, the day following what would have been his 92nd birthday.
WOMPA as a whole is a sprawling warehouse, but the event space is cozy, intimate. Even though Yevtushenko—who lived in Tulsa and taught at TU from 1992 until his death in 2017— was and is one of the world’s most distinguished and celebrated literary figures, you can never be sure a poetry reading on a Friday night in Tulsa will be well-attended. Most seats were filled, though, and an unmistakable air of reverence filled the room prior to the kickoff. Along with some Russian folk singing over the speakers to get us in the mood.
A gracious Zhenya welcomed us. He described his father as someone who loved celebrating his birthday but had a habit of forgetting others’. He introduced the idea of being from two worlds, Russia and the U.S., and also belonging to both the Russian and the English languages. The event was as much a celebration of being “a citizen of the Russian language,” a sentiment he summoned from Joseph Brodsky, as it was a tribute to his father’s life and work.