The Shadow of Words

Romanian author and political activist Blandiana (Five Books) enthralls in this anthology of her early work. Fidelity to truth, ethical inquiry, union with nature, and the ubiquity of the soul underscore narratives that resuscitate awe and riot against passivity: “I search for the beginning of evil/ Just as, when a child, I searched for the edges of the rain...// But the evil always stops before/ I can find the border/ and it starts again/ Before I find out how far the good extends.” Death is exquisitely depicted as the stilling of time’s current: “time is never the core,/ But only the beginning and the end–/ and death is also a span of time/Until you are dead/ and then, unborn from the hands of the clock,/ the river abides in itself/ Like a sea.” Political volatility is likened to a looming drought or tempest: “In the country’s soul/ It’s always yesterday,/ the same old fears that it might not rain/ or there might be too much rain.” With nonpareil enlightenment, valor, and spectral beauty, Blandiana’s visions make an indelible impression. (Apr.)