This Is Us Losing Count washes over readers like a dream, leaving them with the feeling that they have grasped something tangible yet, at the same time, the understanding that they have not held anything at all. But what is it that readers attempt to hold? Is it memories of a changing world, of a beautifully static past and a dizzyingly intimate present, as described by the melodic voice of Alla Gorbunova? Or perhaps it is the final breaths of Ekaterina Simonova's grandmother, whose life, like specks of dust filtering through a young woman's fingers, scatters across the floor of a childhood home. Maybe it is the emptiness--but, at the same time, the everything-ness--of the flickering world that passes before the eyes of Nikita Sungatov. More likely, however, it is the combination of these three powerful and intoxicating voices, which are placed alongside five other talented women (Galina Rymbu, Olga Sedakova, Irina Kotova, Aleksandra Tsibulia and Oksana Vasyakina). This collection of contemporary Russian poetry invites readers to pass in and out of a dream that seems as though it might be a reality.
Despite the remarkably distinct stylings of the eight individual poets, the collection carries a level of cohesiveness and unity that is rarely found in even the most meticulously designed novels. Made even more impressive by the seamless work of seven talented translators (the original Russian remains on the pages, adjacent to the English translations), This Is Us Losing Count is for anyone interested poetry, dreams and memories. --Eamon Stein, reader, writer and filmmaker in Seattle, Wash.