Description

This is an extraordinarily personal and dramatic book. It summarizes a very difficult period in the poet’s life — from his imprisonment after the 2010 elections to forced emigration.

Key components of the book:

• “The Prison Book”: Poems written in the KGB remand prison (the “Amerikanka”). This is the poetry of a man who found himself behind bars but remained free inside. They are permeated with pain, but also with an extraordinary strength of spirit.

• “The Abroad Book”: Works written in exile (in Finland, Poland, Germany). They echo themes of nostalgia, the loss of the Motherland, and the feeling of being a “refugee” despite outward well-being.

• Two long poems: The collection includes major poetic works that delve deeper into the fate of a Belarusian intellectual in exile.

Illustrations by Alaksandra Kanafalskaja are created using the “vycinanka” (paper-cutting) technique, which adds special artistic value to the book. They very aptly convey the fragility and, at the same time, the resilience of human life.