At the "fateful crossroads" of besieged Leningrad—now St. Petersburg—the paths of the poets whose works are collected in this volume converged. There are twenty-two names in total, ranging from the well-known to those almost entirely forgotten by today’s readers. Some of these poets adhered to the canon of socialist realism, hoping to see their work published; others wrote without regard for censorship, keeping their verses "for the desk drawer." Yet, in that besieged city, all of them wrote while standing face-to-face with life and death. This is the first edition of siege-era poetry to include scholarly commentary. The book concludes with an extensive essay by the writer Natalia Sokolovskaya, titled "At the Crossroads of the Siege: Poems and Destinies—A Key to Reading." These poems from the siege serve as a form of devotion—a kind of prayerful ministry—intended to safeguard future generations "from the impenetrable waves of oblivion."