Kareva Doris - Days of grace: selected poems

Words often hint at or flit around an idea or an insight, illuminating in a manner that has been described as oracle-like or like a snowflake on the cusp of disappearance. Most of her poems occupy little space on the page, yet aspire to grasp and articulate something essential in a way that both embodies and defies definition. Sound, meaning and silence overlap and interact to the extent that whole poems appear diamond-like: resilient, incisive and multi-faceted all at once. The sustained depth and clarity of Karevas poetry lies in her ability to create ambiguity and suggest harmony at the same time. Over 40 years of poetic output, she has explored the ecstasy and the pain of existence in terms of the sensual and the intellectual. Her poetry evokes and erases the line between the human soul and the universe, between man and god, between voice and silence.

I first encountered Karevas poetry as a student of the Estonian language when I was given a copy of Armuaeg (Days of Grace) for pronunciation practice. I clearly remember the pleasure I felt in reading her poems aloud; I understood little more than isolated words and phrases, fragments of meaning, but the sounds and rhythm had already captivated me. To translate such poems into English has been to tread a path of discovery of the limits and the potential of my own language. MIRIAM McILFATRICK-KSENOFONTOV