Future Symptoms

In this stirring collection of poetry, Anatoly Molotkov considers a country on the brink of collapse, plagued by virus and violence, haunted by history, asking of himself--and us-- 'How do I move / with my love / caught in concrete... How do I sing with all / this past / in my lungs?' The poems therein are tender and incisive, compassionate and curious; they 'shine with mysteries to learn.' Molotkov has written a book that is both heartbreaking and real, and often profoundly moving in its exploration of what it means to be human.-- Sara Eliza Johnson

In FUTURE SYMPTOMS, Anatoly Molotkov offers his readers egregious historical memories and powerful personal experiences. So many of Molotkov's phrasings of exacting language burn the mind, scald the heart. 'Red fever, and / these red / thoughts / I / breathe loss into light, / trip on life's red syllables / as their rhythm breaks me.' As I read this language, as I consider the speaking agent, I am profoundly changed by the ways Molotkov gives us a vision of the tragedy of this moment. As is the case with so much of the very best poetry, I am frightened by the ways I find myself transformed by Molotkov's language. Here we experience the essential work of poetry offered to us with grace. I find in this work the means to face the horrors Molotkov raises to our attention, and I find renewed in myself the courage to engage in necessary, painful, truth-telling, and to continue to face all that cannot be forgotten, cannot be denied. -- Rust Morrison

Poetry. Philosophy. Experimental Prose.