Spake the madman from deep in his heart

Timur Kibirov was born in 1955 and began publishing his poems in the 1980s. Being one of the most influential of contemporary Russian poets, he was closely associated with underground poets like Lev Rubinstein, Dmitri Prigov, and Sergey Gandlevsky, and critics often identify his work with postmodernism and conceptualism. He is the author of thirteen poetry collections, including When Lenin Was Young, Amour, exil, and In the Margins of “A Shropshire Lad.” The poems translated for Two Lines come from his collection Greek and Roman Catholic Songs and Nursery Rhymes, 1986–2009, which contains over two decades of poems all centered on the theme of religious faith. Kibirov has won many honors, including the “Anti-Booker” award and Russia’s prestigious “Poet” prize.