The magpie in the Joshua trees
Has come to rest. Darkness collects,
And what I cannot hear or see,
Broken limbs, the curious bird,
Become in darkness darkness too.
from ”Premonition at Twilight“
Phil Levine, On the Edge, 1963
The same and not quite the same,
I walked through oak forests
Amazed that my Muse, Mnemosyne,
Has in no way diminished my amazement.
A magpie was screeching and I said: Magpiety?
What is magpiety? I shall never achieve
A magpie heart, a hairy nostril over the beak, a flight
That always renews just when coming down,
And so I shall never comprehend magpiety.
from "Magpiety"
Czesław Miłosz
translated with Peter Dale Scott
Marius Katiliškis's 1957 masterpiece of rural Lithuanian life, Fall Comes from the Forest, translated by Birutė Vaičjurgis Šležas, is now available online and by special order in any bookstore. See an excerpt here.
by Saulius Šaltenis
Bees on the Snow (original title Kalės vaikai) by Saulius Šaltenis is now out and available at your local bookstore, as well as online outlets. See the book announcement here. Reviews are starting to come in—links available on our REVIEWS page.
If you're a blogger and would be interested in reviewing our books, write with your name and blog address to:
Are our books available at your local library?
We're pleased to note that Fall Comes from the Forest by Marius Katiliškis, as well as Saulius Šaltenis's Bees on the Snow, are now available at the Downers Grove Library in Downers Grove, Illinois. This means the books will be available to anyone in the suburban Chicago SWAN system for inter-library loan.
Why not put in a request that your local library acquire a copy? Many libraries allow this, and it's a wonderful way to introduce other readers to some of Lithuania's most unique writers.