Kevin M. F. Platt

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Kevin M. F. Platt is a professor of Russian and East European studies at the University of Pennsylvania. He works on Russian poetry, history, and memory in Russia and eastern Europe, global russophone culture, and translates poetry from Russian and Latvian. His new book, Border Conditions: Russian-Speaking Latvians between World Orders, is forthcoming in 2023.

Two Poems from Latvia
By Uldis Bērziņš’
July 2023
Uldis Bērziņš’
Illustration by Karenna BrownConversation with a Postman I get used to loneliness, she says. Autumn is utterly close; politics distant. The cat’s a refined soul, but pisses all over the flowers. The g…
Two Russian Poems from Saint Petersburg and Tbilisi
By Alexander Skidan
March 2023
Alexander Skidan
Linor Goralik, The Assumption of the Deserters (2022), black, gold, and red cardboard, paper, black watercolor, red acrylic, colored pencils, pen / Courtesy of the artist / linorgoralik.com…
By Viktor Ivaniv
November 2011
Viktor Ivaniv
The city as though laid out in my palmAnd I passed through all my old hauntsI took off easily in youthThoughts hung in a beat of easy doubt Like shades of Aladdin's would-be uncleRun in four direction…
By Sergej Timofejev
November 2011
Sergej Timofejev
I want to tell you simple truths,Reveal important things to you.Always open doors, step into elevators,Go upstairs, move down corridors.Always get into cars, start the engine,And if it's winter, wait…
By Artur Punte
November 2011
Artur Punte
to V. L. Where were you led by the keyword searchfor your own name, following the links,you suddenly find yourself twenty years laterin an apartment without a single book,without bookshelves.Your town…
By Semyon Khanin
November 2011
Semyon Khanin
why did I keep yelling I'm an electricianI'm no electrician what came over me I gestured at outletscozied up to the circuit box, held the meter close no one is buying it here's my license, look, my ce…
a poem about Lillebror and Karlsson
By Igor Belov
November 2011
Igor Belov
NB: Karlsson on the Roof and its sequels, the children's books by Astrid Lindgren (best known in the English-speaking world for her Pippi Longstocking), are immensely popular in Russia, where…