Alexander Belyakov's new book comprises poems written between 2019 and 2023. They are particularly marked by the author's "hieroglyphic," extremely rigorous, compact form and stoicism, responding to today's catastrophic events. Homeless fragments of words, macabre images, a deceptively cheerful thrum of rhythms, and punning rhymes—this is a snapshot of a tragic experience, captured with the most precise poetic means. Alexander Belyakov was born in 1962 in Yaroslavl. He graduated from the Mathematics Department of Yaroslavl State University (1984). He has worked as a programmer, journalist, publishing house employee, bookseller, accountant, radio and television editor, civil servant, PR manager, and copywriter. He has been in print since 1988. The author of 10 books of poetry and the short fiction book "The Rise of Things" (2018), as well as numerous publications in literary journals and poetry anthologies. He is a recipient of a scholarship from the Joseph Brodsky Memorial Foundation (2012).