Apollo in the Grass: Selected Poems

In his second work in English translation, Russian poet Kushner (Apollo in the Snow) presents a range of poems full of praise for the natural world, allusions to classical myths, and self-reflexive references to writing. The speakers of Kushner’s poems extol their literary forebears, and the poet himself shows a mischievous bravado in the way he speaks directly to critics and predicts his place within Russia’s poetic landscape. Other times, he offers more self-deprecating humor: “Here it is, then: my love of nature,/ As silly as that phrase may sound.” Poems feature meditations on death as well as thoughtful examinations of various languages’ relationship to history and geography. Kushner’s most powerful moments tend to be reflections on identity, including what he describes as his good fortune as a Russian Jew: “If I’d been born in any European country:/ In France, Austria, Poland—I’d have been lost long ago.” And a picture of the speaker and his friends as three-year-olds becomes a window to view how identity is imposed as one ages: “The children are mollusk-like,/ Unassigned still, hard to place in the schema.” Measured, yet playful, Kushner has a knack “For gathering a certain music, like water into a sieve.” [em](Aug.) [/em]