<DIV><p>"A poet of genius."?Vladimir Nabokov</p><p>Via what Ilya Kaminsky and Jean Valentine call "readings"?not translations?of fragments of Marina Tsvetaeva's poems and prose, Tsvetaeva's lyrical genius is made accessible and poignant to a new generation of readers. By juxtaposing fragments of her poems with short pieces of prose, we begin to know her as poet, friend, enemy, woman, lover, and revolutionary.</p><p><B>From "Poems for Moscow (2)":</B></p><p><I>From my hands?take this city not made by hands,<BR><BR>my strange, my beautiful brother.</I></p><p><I>Take it, church by church?all forty times forty churches,<BR>and flying up over them, the small pigeons;</I></p><p><I>And Spassky Gates?in their flower?<BR>where the Orthodox take off their hats;</I></p><p><I>And the Chapel of Stars?refuge chapel?<BR>where the floor is?polished by tears;</I></p><p><I>Take the circle of the five cathedrals,<BR>my soul, my holy friend.</I></p><p><B>Marina Tsvetaeva</B> was born in Moscow in 1892 and died in 1941. Her poetry stands among the greatest works of twentieth century Russian writers.</p><p><B>Ilya Kaminsky</B> is the author of <I>Dancing in Odessa</I> (Tupelo Press, 2004) which won the Whiting Writers' Award, the American Academy of Arts and Letters' Metcalf Award, the Dorset Prize, and the Ruth Lilly Poetry Fellowship awarded annually by <I>Poetry </I>magazine.</p><p><B>Jean Valentine</B> won the Yale Younger Poets award for <I>Dream Barker</I> in 1965. Her eleventh book of poetry is <I>Break the Glass</I>, from Copper Canyon Press. <I>Door in the Mountain: New and Collected Poems 1965?2003</I> was the winner of the 2004 National Book Award for Poetry.</p><BR></DIV>