Poetry
Es esmu vasara
Not translated into English
Aina Kraujiete · 1963
Synopsis
The collection opens with Niekkalbe, where the poet invites her soul to adorn itself with peacock feathers, and at its centre holds a cycle of memory about the summer of the native land: the wind carries her over the flowering wheat like golden sand, the summer there is iridescent, changeable, unsure of existing, and the sun fills it with seeds like a coin that cannot be spent. Around it, nature, love, mirrors, masks and art; Guntis Zariņš hears in it a voice searching alone for its own sun.
Context
The collection appeared in 1963 from Upeskalna apgāds, in Shippenville. Guntis Zariņš reviewed it in Londonas Avīze on 21 June: he hears a poet of existence, sees in her sun a summer that gives life rather than destroys, and thinks that exile can deepen a people's knowledge of its land. On 27 July, in Latvija, Jānis Grīns welcomed a successful debut, lyrical pieces grouped in sequences and a rich, controlled syntax. In 2004 Inta Ezergaile noted its mosaic structure and its play of sounds.
Who it is for
A lyric poetry rich in images and sonorities, lit by the memory of the summers of the native land.
Prizes and reception
Zinaīda Lazda Prize in 1965, acclaimed from its publication as a successful debut in poetry.