Poetry
Broliai balti aitvarai
Not translated into English
Henrikas Nagys · 1969
Synopsis
The collection is dedicated to three friends, the writers Antanas Škėma, Julius Kaupas and Algimantas Mackus, who died within three years of one another, whom the poet calls his white aitvarai, after a flying figure of fortune in folklore. The poems about the brother and about the serf brothers stand alongside elegies, a lament and letters never sent to the friends who will not return; the falcon and the aitvaras recur in them, in a terse language that paraphrases the folk song.
Context
The collection appeared in Chicago in 1969, from the Algimantas Mackus publishing fund. The Lithuanian encyclopedia notes in it a concise language and a large share of paraphrases of folklore. Vytautas Plukas observes that, for this poet, every man is a brother, and that the bird of prey and the flying creature of folklore run through his work; Manfredas Žvirgždas links the aitvaras to a flying god of fortune and reads in this poetry the dream of a fraternity among Baltic peoples. The poet continued in this manner in Prisijaukinsiu sakalą, in 1978.
Who it is for
Short poems, steeped in popular song; two of the author's poems exist in French in an anthology, but no translation of the collection has been found.
Prizes and reception
Awarded the prize of the Society of Lithuanian Writers in Exile, it ranks among the major collections of its author.
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