Ah, Yevgeny

"I don't call it political poetry, I call it human rights poetry; the poetry which defends human conscience as the greatest spiritual value," he says in a recent interview with The Associated Press at his home in Tulsa.

At the height of his fame, Yevtushenko read his work in packed soccer stadiums and arenas. There was a recital in 1972 in New York's Madison Square Garden, the audience of 27,000 in Mexico City and the crowd of 200,000 in 1991 who came to listen during a failed coup attempt in Russia.
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Wow. Most of us poets can only dream of audiences like this.

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A link to the poem "Babi Yar" here.

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Off to Florida for a medical conference. I hope the hurricane winds have finished there. And I hope there is sun and a pool and a margarita waiting for me.

See you in a few days.

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