“The poems in this volume are bold and forthright yet bracingly
controlled, vivid in their imagery and visionary in their imaginative
reach. Taken together, they testify to a new efflorescence of Russian
poetry—a blossoming that was seasons in the the making, like the
January flowers in one of Alla Gorbunova’s lyrics, translated by
Elina Alter: ‘white at first glance, but then / a thousandfold
colors.’” —Boris Dralyuk, author of My
Hollywood and Other Poems and Editor in Chief of The
Los Angeles Review of Books
A woman surveys a changing city from her self-described “cloud
tower,” recalling where building used to stand. A grandmother
spends her hallucinatory final days convening with deceased friends
and relatives visible only to her, including a small boy perched on
top of the refrigerator. A voracious eater picks through memories in
the form of breads, dumplings, sweets, and other snacks that never
quite sate her, declaring “I write because I can’t eat enough.”
In sinuous translations of verse both irreverent and profound, this
fifth installment of Two Lines Press’s Calico Series ask to what
extent we must remember in order to reinvent.
The Calico Series, published biannually by Two Lines Press,
captures vanguard works of translated literature in stylish,
collectible editions. Each Calico is a vibrant snapshot that explores
one aspect of our present moment, offering the voices of previously
inaccessible, highly innovative writers from around the world today.
