"Poetry of Recent Times" is a documentary record of the current literary landscape at a critical breaking point in Russian culture—a moment when poetic texts, like markers on a map, chart the scale of a humanitarian catastrophe. The poems, written between February and July 2022, serve as a chronicle of how collective trauma is processed through artistic expression. More than a hundred authors reflect on contemporary history, on responsibility for unfolding events, and on the metamorphoses of the Russian language amidst a shifting reality.

From the compiler’s preface:

"Since the time of Pushkin, Russian poetry has learned to navigate between the Scylla of censorship and the Charybdis of the secret police. There have been eras in Russian history when such skill helped one avoid destitution or even imprisonment; one would like to believe that the age of Aesopian language has not yet returned, and that an artistic statement—however pointed it may seem—is entitled to a 'safe-conduct' by virtue of its place within the tradition of Russian literature.

<...>

The anthology features over a hundred authors. They represent a wide range of locations—Russia, Ukraine, Europe, the Americas, and the Near and Far East—as well as a broad age span, with birth years ranging from 1937 to 1997. What unites them all is the art of poetry as a means of grappling with collective trauma."

Named a 2022 Book of the Year by *Nezavisimaya Gazeta*