Poetry. Bilingual Edition. Translated from the Romanian by Sean Cotter. LIGHTWALL refers to the angled casements built to reflect sunlight into basement apartments in Bucharest. These poems bring light where it ordinarily does not reach: Romanian trains, old suitcases, the medieval city where Ursu was born. Her poems connect her home in old Bucharest to her travels in the United States, and her Orthodox spirituality with her modern, Balkan context.

"Liliana Ursu's poems are like flowers at the edge of the abyss. They are beautifully clear and precise, but behind them one glimpses the presence of an ineradicable dark."—Mark Strand

"Ursu writes poetry that is wild and unpredictable, on the brink of flying away beyond real and imagined borders. Her short poems are stunning, unforgettable, and expertly translated into exciting English texts by Sean Cotter."—Ray Gonzalez

Author City: Bucharest ROM

Liliana Ursu is a poet, prose writer, and translator, with eighteen books published in Romania. She has been translated into many languages, including three previous books in English. She lives in Bucharest, teaching courses in poetry and creative writing, producing occasional radio programs for Romania cultural, and writing. She has received two Fulbright grants and taught creative writing at the University of Louisville and at Bucknell University, in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. Her books in English include A PATH TO THE SEA (Pleasure Boat Studio, 2011), LIGHTWALL (Zephyr Press, 2009), and GOLDSMITH MARKET (Zephyr Press, 2003).

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Matthew Zapruder @ The Three Percent