Mykhailo Kutsak

Mykhailo Kutsak, who writes under the pen name Merkurii, is a seventeen-year-old Ukrainian poet and visual artist from Odesa. His work explores the urban landscape of southern Ukraine as a carrier of memory and as a witness to its destruction. The port, estuaries, industrial ruins hidden behind Odesa’s ceremonial façades and the voices of the street appear in his poetry not as background but as active participants in history. Kutsak’s poetry works at the intersection of free verse, documentary montage, corporeal imagery and visual composition.

He is the author of two completed poetry cycles, Zero Metres Above Sea Level and Have You Ever Seen Blue? He is also preparing a self-published collection and working on a third cycle, Not-Childish Games, which addresses corporeality, queer experience and the position of the individual within a society at war. Alongside poetry, Kutsak works with drawing and painting. His visual practice contributes to the cinematic qualities and compositional structure of his poems. He participated in the New Odyssey Children’s Poetry Competition and has read his work at poetry events at the Odesa National Scientific Library and at independent cultural venues. He also took part in the forum Innovating Voices: Communication Strategies for Advancing the Blue Economy, where he represented the perspective of artists in a dialogue with the scientific community. Kutsak studies cybersecurity. His engagement with mathematics, digital algorithms and systems influences the architecture and internal organisation of his poetic cycles.

He chose the pen name Merkurii in honour of his ancestor Merkurii Tsymbaliuk. The exploration of this family history became part of his search for his own identity and artistic voice.

Selected works and projects

Zero Metres Above Sea Level, completed poetry cycle

Have You Ever Seen Blue?, completed poetry cycle

Non-Childish Games, poetry cycle in progress

Samizdat poetry publications in progress

Participant in the first season of New Odyssey, children’s poetry competition

Participant in poetry readings at the Odesa National Scientific Library and literary clubs

Participant in Innovating Voices: Communication Strategies for Advancing the Blue Economy