Yvonne Green Books

Poetry Book Society Recommended Translation (Winter 2011). Semyon Izrailevich Lipkin (1911-2003) is now recognised as a leading literary figure in Russia, though he is still relatively unknown in the west. In his own country, he was for many years known primarily as a translator, with only close friends able to read his poems. It was not until the collapse of the Soviet Union that the general reading public was allowed to become fully aware of the scope and depth of Semyon Lipkin's own poetry. His work is concerned with history and philosophical exploration, but above all shows a keen sense of people's diverse destinies. His poems are rich with references to his Jewish heritage and to the Bible, and they draw on a first-hand awareness of the tragedies of World War II. Yvonne Green has worked for eight years, making and working from literal translations to create 'versions' - poems 'after Lipkin' that bring to English some of this fascinating writer's most characteristic verse.

Yvonne Green's latest collection extends the urgent and compelling territory of her earlier, award-winning books. Politically engaged, many of the poems consider the human cost of war, while others deal equally intensely both with ideas and with domestic and city landscapes. A final section furthers the translations from Russian she began in 2011 with her PBS Recommended title, After Semyon Izrailevich Lipkin.

This poetry book is a compilation of various subjects. Most of these poems discuss God, brokenness, and depression, as well as healing, forgiveness, racism and violence. Although you may feel empathy and my pain as you read my words, still believe that I always put my hope and trust in the Lord, for He is my strength. Writing has always been therapeutic for me. I pray this book ministers to your soul as it has mine. I pray there is comfort, confirmation, and healing for you as well. Sit back and believe the best is yet to come.