Pavel Kozhevnikov: Poet and a Teacher of Russian par Excellence!!
September 17, 2007 | 
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Pavel Kozhevnikov, who immigrated to Colorado Springs from Kazakhstan, recently published his first book of poetry in Russian. This is the story of his views on an immigrant’s life journey that continues to evolve.
Pavel Gregorievich Kozhevnikov has the mind of a scholar and the soul of a poet. His “real job” has been in higher education, but his “beloved job” is his poetry.
“I guess poetry can be serious or not. I started to write poetry in 1967 as a student at the Uralsk Pedagogical Institute” and things progressed from there. “Mr. K” the name his students have given him in American schools, began writing poetry when he was walking home through in the orchards that surrounded his village. He was returning from a friend’s home; it was midnight; suddenly it started to snow. “And the poem simply streamed into my soul.”
Poetry maintained its hold upon Pavel as he studied, worked, gained prestige in his university, and in the schools he administered. The things that touched his soul, love, loyalty, and human feelings, found a place in his personal writing. Some poems he shared with family and friends; others he kept to himself only until now with the publication of his first book of poetry.
“I want to publish my poems in English,” Pavel told me. “I am working now on a biographical novel which will comprise my life under communism and here in the USA.”
Pavel is a household name as Professor of Russian Language at Pikes Peak Community College and UCCS. He dedicated the last 10 years of his life to teaching one of the few Russian language programs in Colorado, at Mitchell High School, where his students earned national awards at the prestigious Olimpiada competitions. Pavel also has received the School District # 11 coveted Crystal Apple Award, the Colorado Congress of Foreign Language Teachers Award for Outstanding Teacher of the Year, and University of Northern Colorado’s prestigious Outstanding Teacher Award for 2007.
Pavel’s former students remain a part of his extended family, often returning to speak to his present students after years of being away from his classes. They speak about his dedication to the profession, his skills as a Russian interpreter for the NASA space program, and his work with U.S. military forces locally. They also speak to Pavel’s successes because he himself does not talk about all he has done for second-language education in this community. He prefers to let the results shine in their own right.
Pavel’s first book of poetry has been published in Staritsa, Russia, “about 200 miles to the north of Moscow.” Pavel went on, “I was invited to present it to a local club of poets. It was accepted very well. There were two poets, members of the Union of Russian Poets…the highest organization of poets in Russia. They complemented me on my poems and gave me a lot of good advice on how to improve my style.”
Pavel has chosen to “improve his style” by continuing to write poetry daily in addition to tending to his new granddaughter and assisting his wife Gail at her post as Elementary School Principal. “Poetry is my life and my love. I want to dedicate this love to people who choose to learn about my life through this medium.”
Pavel’s poetic cadences remind the reader of his small village, its change of seasons, and its intense emotional impact upon him and his immediate family. His daughter Lena has caught much of his poetic energy in her paintings, and both she and Pavel plan a second volume of his poetry, which will contain major pieces from her art works.
“Life is good here,” Pavel told me. “I love my life, my wife, and my children are with us. Now I have time to celebrate the emotions I did not express before. I have time to think and to remember.”
Below is the transcript of an interview with Pavel Kozhevnikov. The interview was conducted by Jugal Kalita and Margaret Mistry over lunch at Sakura Sushi and Grill, located at 3117 W. Colorado Avenue.
Where did you grow up, Pavel?
I was born in the Republic of Kazakhstan, in former Old Soviet Union.
Where did you learn English?
I am a native Russian speaker. I learned German in high school. The school I went to had mandatory German. My teachers in German were so impressed with my abilities that they told me I should become a German professor. However, the local university I went to didn’t have a German major. So, I majored in English.
Tell us about your career. What brought you to the US?
After graduation from college, I was sent to a rural district center called Peremyotnoye where I taught grades five through ten for five years. Then, I worked as the First Secretary of Comsomol, a youth organization, for two years. I was promoted to an orblost where I worked on organizing academic and other competitions for young people for four years. In 1981, the First Party Secretary of the Uralsk Region invited me to go to Almaty, the capital, and work for the Government of Kazakhstan. I became the Commissioner for the Department of Tourism because of my fluency in foreign languages. Then, my personal life crashed ending in a divorce.” Divorce was not socially accepted in the Soviet system.
In 1987 Communist parties collapsed all over the Old Soviet Union including Kazakhstan. Pavel continued, “I became eligible for good jobs again. I became an Assistant Principal and then the Principal of the Central School at Almaty. I got interested in politics and was elected Deputy in the City Council in Almaty. I got a big break when President Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan invited me to be the member of a group of individuals who advised him and the population on how to privatize government companies and properties to private hands. This was the best time of my life although I worked in this capacity only for a year. In 1992, I met Gail, an American who had come to Almaty to work with the new government. We got married and I moved to Colorado Springs, and a new world.
What have you done during your time in the US?
I started teaching Russian at Pikes Peak Community College right away. I also became the VP of a publishing company that sent books to Russia. I started teaching foreign languages and social studies at Mitchell High School. I also worked for the US Army for a while doing translations. I am retired from high school teaching now, but I continue to teach at UCCS and PPCC. I am another example of an individual who had high careers before, but had to start from scratch after immigrating to the US.
Were you writing poetry all this time?
Yes, all the time, but not seriously.
Tell us about your new book of poems.
It’s a book of Russian poems with a few English poems thrown in. The poems were written from 1967 through now. The book was published in Tver in Russia where I have my family––my parents and kids from my first family. Many of the poems are about the little village in Kazakhstan where I was born and raised. My daughter Lena illustrated the book with her beautiful sketches. She hasn’t been to the village, but she was able to draw them vividly. I have a few English poems; one of them is dedicated to my dear wife Gail.
Thank you for talking with us.
Thank you for inviting me.
- Jugal Kalita and Margaret Mistry. Photos by Margaret Mistry
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