The emigration of European poets to the United States appears a tradition in its own right, and a luminous one at that. The effect of Miłosz, Brodsky et al on American poetry resonates even today, perhaps even to the extent that a restrictive romanticism has emerged in the poetic consciousness of global poetics toward Eastern European poets in the US. Through the celebrated work of Valzhyna Mort that Eastern European influence continues, but abated in reconstituted voice utterly individual and unique. Winner of the Crystal of Vilenica poetry award, lauded on both sides of the continent, Mort is a resolute and dexterous presence in contemporary East coast American poetry circles. A native of Belarus, her poetry is remarkable for its elegance and fluidity, and its ability to maintain an idiom both utterly modern and somehow enduring. For the 66th edition of the Maintenantseries, Valzhyna Mort.
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