Seed in Snow

This first US publication of Knuts Skujenieks—one of Latvia’s foremost contemporary poets—is the author’s most important and widely-translated body of work. Convicted in 1962 of anti-Soviet sentiment, Skujenieks wrote these poems during seven years of imprisonment at a labor camp in Mordovia. Presented bilingually in English and Latvian, this vivid and expressive collection overcomes the physical experience of confinement in order to assert a limitless creative freedom. “To a Dandelion Blooming in November” If you know you must bloomDon’t ask if the time has comeDon’t ask if the time has goneIf you know you must bloom Heed the voice coursing in youWhen sap disturbs your rootsWhen your greenness torments youHeed the voice coursing in you Lift up your yellow crownMuddle plans and calendarsMuddle rules, muddle mindsLift up your yellow crown With you, we feel we are homeYou bloomed unaskedYou bloomed unaskingWith you, we feel we are home Praise for Seed in Snow “Skujenieks makes his own em