Natalia Zaretsky's poems embody the truths of a life, with the
indelible, acute marks of particular times and places:
the "dungeon" of the Soviet years in Russia,
the attainments and ordeals of immigration, the facts
of illness, the aspirations of a fiery, enduring spirit.
I respect the explicitness, the courage, the sincerity
and the specificity of her writing.
I love the poem What is Dusha?, your best work, maybe
because in this case the idiom expresses the American-Russian
division you mention. I like the parts about despair
and drink, and the Jewish/Slavic part.
Afterwards,
a Jewish Soul doesn't wander,
like
a Slavic Soul in cloudy heavens.
She moves into a family's newborn,
when a
baby is named after you
- Robert Pinsky Professor
of Boston University
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