From the Columbia Spectator:

The poems of Marina Blitshteyn, SoA ’11, are more than just letters on a page—they are visual and performance art. On Feb. 24, KGB Literary Bar in the East Village celebrated the release of “Russian for Lovers,” a new book of poems from Blitshteyn, a current Columbia MFA poetry student. In “Russian for Lovers,” Blitshteyn’s melodies of syllables and silences lead readers through the Russian alphabet from “A” to “Я.”

Published by Argos Books, “Russian for Lovers” is all about Blitshteyn’s passion for language. She uses poetry to translate her native culture to an American audience. Each poem relates to the way a letter of the Russian alphabet either sounds or looks.

As an undergraduate at the University at Buffalo, Blitshteyn became involved in poetry slams. “I want to find that balance between what looks good on the page and what sounds good to read,” she said. “Russian for Lovers” includes concrete poems that form shapes with the breaks between words and thoughts. She remembers becoming interested in the power of silence during her sophomore year of college and said, “I think it visually gives room to breathe. It gives you time to take in things you might overlook.”

anthology, noun:

1. A collection of the flowers of verse, i.e. small choice poems, esp. epigrams, by various authors; originally applied to the Greek collections so called.  (OED)

A LITTLE HISTORY

According to its Greek root, the word “anthologia” (ἀνθολογία) literally signifies “flower-gathering” (with the intended purpose of putting together a garland or a bouquet of flowers). It is believed that the earliest surviving anthology was assembled by Meleager of Gadara, a 1^st century BCE poet and collector of epigrams. Gadara compiled works from many different poets and arranged them in a collection aptly named the Garland.

OUR CONCEPT

As far back as the 1^st century BCE, anthologies have been a popular breed of books, and this, for many different reasons. Consider variety. Consider the conversation that almost always occurs between the featured pieces. Consider the way in which the diversity in style, form and voice of the collected works connect readers and writers from different traditions.

Anthologies are repositories where the old can rest alongside the new. Anthologies are catalogs where the odd can feed off the beautiful. Anthologies create friction, or dizzying spells. In our attempt at creating hybrids, mosaics of language and approach, it seemed to us that ARGOS BOOKS should provide a central place to anthologies in its catalog. Not content to simply follow a model that has worked for centuries, that is, the traditional anthology, we also chose to put a new twist on an old formula: make it small. (Maybe even tiny.)

Living in bite-size, gone-in-a-flash, wish-I-had-time-to sort of days, we strongly feel our readership is best served when handed a manageable portion where nothing remains but the essential. Thus, we, the modern collectors of the odd, the exuberant, and the beautiful, we the lovers of poetry, prose, and translated works alike here at ARGOS BOOKS, proudly bring you our LITTLE ANTHOLOGY series.

OUR FIRST LITTLE ANTHOLOGY

We decided to start our collecting in the city and in the community that we are currently a part of.  The first Little Anthology will draw from the diverse group of students that are studying to receive their MFA’s in poetry from one of the six NYC schools that offer that degree.  How are we alike, and how are we different?  What does the future hold for this disparate group of writers currently in their journeyman phase?  We hope that by bringing together these (mostly) young writers on the page, we will also help to bring them together in real life with events surrounding the NYC/MFA anthology.