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In the messy flat of Janos Pilinszky,
his most loved records lie
without sleeves, horizontal
on his bookshelves. See,
his parchment face is bloodless,
lit like a lamp from within,
his bones fine, his lips
shrewdly curved, humorous.

from 'Budapest'

Cities is a book of travels, from Basel to Budapest, Tampico to Tiblisi – and from the child in wartime Leicester to a 'fortune beyond any deserving / to be still here' in a London garden, eight decades later. 'Migrations', the book's opening poem, celebrates the recurring 'filigree of migration, symbiosis, assimilation'. Inheriting 'a long history of crossing borders', Feinstein explores the haunted landscape between past and present, public history and personal memory, in simple intense lyrics.

Cover Photograph: Kobi Israel / Millennium Images, UK (detail).

Contents

Migrations
Wartime Leicester
Cambridge, 1949
Portugal Place, Cambridge
Piaf in Babraham
At the Chelsea
Basel
Jerusalem
Warsaw, 1973
Lublin, 1973
Krakow, 1973
Budapest
St Petersburg
Borscht in Odessa
A Dream of Prague
Tbilisi
Rush Cutter Bay, Sydney
A Weekend in Berlin, 2008
Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge
A Night in Lisbon
Three Fado Songs by Jose Carlos Ary dos Santos
Rose of Night
The Tiles of Lisbon
Alfama
Arson in Hanià, Crete
Loss
Christmas Day in Willesden Green
Stetl in Belorus
Festival in Tampico
Isaiah Berlin in Rome
A Garden in North Germany
Dizzy in Westminster
Prizes
Butterflies Lost
Sweet Corn
Long Life

Elaine Feinstein was educated at Newnham College, Cambridge. She has worked as a university lecturer, a subeditor, and a freelance journalist. Since 1980, when she was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, she has lived as a full-time writer. In 1990, she received a Cholmondeley Award for Poetry, ... read more

'The strangeness of visited cities, with their fearful histories, has been transmuted here by the responses of a truly gifted poet.' Dannie Abse 'Cities presents itself as the work of old age, but readers expecting regret or renunciation will be surprised by the affirmative character of this book. While Elaine Feinstein revisits Europe in the aftermath of Nazism, she also praises the good fortune of having lived richly in the sphere of literature and travelled widely among remarkable people. The poems here are lit with striking clarity - things retain their outline and solidity to an unusual degree.' Sean O'Brien 'Elaine Feinstein has made the juncture between poetry and memoir her own. As befits a poet who is also a master of fiction and biography, she writes with casual erudition and an acute storyteller's eye. Her forays into European culture and history are dazzling. Cities is a profoundly humane, intimate exploration of the places and stages by which a life acquires meaning.' Fiona Sampson Praise for Elaine Feinstein 'Like numerous English readers, I owe my discovery of Tsvetaeva to the multi-talented poet and writer, Elaine Feinstein... Feinstein's translations prove that a poem can be re-born in its adoptive language.' - Carol Rumens 'Talking to the Dead is arguably Elaine Feinstein's best collection. Beautifully crafted, deeply felt, totally earned, these poems of love and bereavement, and more, will expand her readership well beyond the readers and writers of contemporary poetry who have long loved and treasured her exemplary contribution to the art.' Carol Ann Duffy 'Beautiful, generous, wonderfully intense poems ... Anyone who has ever felt comforted in grief by words, or who has lived through that tension between tenderness, longing and guilt, will recognize their precision and their truth.' Ruth Padel 'These are more than elegies, they are alchemy; the emotional force of the book is so strong that the dead come walking out of the pages.' Jo Shapcott 'For more than 40 years, Feinstein has been writing intensely lyrical, finely crafted poems. Those in [Talking to the Dead] are honest and moving, and are among her very best.' No. 1 in 'The Ten Best New poetry collections' - the Independent, 2007

Elaine Feinstein and Roy Fisher have each established such a hold in British poetry that a new collection from either will surely be valued. read more

Journeys and Joy, Pain and Pleasure. read more

The Independent 'Poets in perpeptual motion' by Michael Horovitz The opening sequence of Elaine Feinstein's new volume , "Migrations", compares the transglobal movements of our feathered friends "using the stars, along/ flyways old as Homer and Jeremiah", and those of humans, including all her grandparents who "came from Odessa/ a century ago". read more

Few poets are as successful as Elaine Feinstein at turning the personal into the professional; at making art out of biography and transforming the individual into the universal. read more

Compared with America, Britain is strangely deficient in leading Jewish poets. read more

A poem called 'Long Life' concludes Elaine Feinstein's Cities and ends: 'My generation may not be/nimble but, forgive us,/we'd like to hold on, stubbornly/content - even while ageing.' read more

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Cities Elaine Feinstein RRP: GBP£ 9.95 Discount: 10% You Save: GBP£ 0.99 Price: GBP£ 8.96 Available Paperback ISBN: 978 1 847770 61 5 Categories: 21st Century, Jewish, Women Imprint: Carcanet Poetry Published: June 2010 216 x 135 mm 64 pages Publisher: Carcanet Press Also available in: eBook (EPUB), eBook (Kindle) Description Excerpt Author Contents Reviews In the messy flat of Janos Pilinszky, his most loved records lie without sleeves, horizontal on his bookshelves. See, his parchment face is bloodless, lit like a lamp from within, his bones fine, his lips shrewdly curved, humorous. from 'Budapest' Cities is a book of travels, from Basel to Budapest, Tampico to Tiblisi – and from the child in wartime Leicester to a 'fortune beyond any deserving / to be still here' in a London garden, eight decades later. 'Migrations', the book's opening poem, celebrates the recurring 'filigree of migration, symbiosis, assimilation'. Inheriting 'a long history of crossing borders', Feinstein explores the haunted landscape between past and present, public history and personal memory, in simple intense lyrics. Cover Photograph: Kobi Israel / Millennium Images, UK (detail). Contents Migrations Wartime Leicester Cambridge, 1949 Portugal Place, Cambridge Piaf in Babraham At the Chelsea Basel Jerusalem Warsaw, 1973 Lublin, 1973 Krakow, 1973 Budapest St Petersburg Borscht in Odessa A Dream of Prague Tbilisi Rush Cutter Bay, Sydney A Weekend in Berlin, 2008 Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge A Night in Lisbon Three Fado Songs by Jose Carlos Ary dos Santos Rose of Night The Tiles of Lisbon Alfama Arson in Hanià, Crete Loss Christmas Day in Willesden Green Stetl in Belorus Festival in Tampico Isaiah Berlin in Rome A Garden in North Germany Dizzy in Westminster Prizes Butterflies Lost Sweet Corn Long Life Elaine Feinstein was educated at Newnham College, Cambridge. She has worked as a university lecturer, a subeditor, and a freelance journalist. Since 1980, when she was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, she has lived as a full-time writer. In 1990, she received a Cholmondeley Award for Poetry, ... read more 'The strangeness of visited cities, with their fearful histories, has been transmuted here by the responses of a truly gifted poet.' Dannie Abse 'Cities presents itself as the work of old age, but readers expecting regret or renunciation will be surprised by the affirmative character of this book. While Elaine Feinstein revisits Europe in the aftermath of Nazism, she also praises the good fortune of having lived richly in the sphere of literature and travelled widely among remarkable people. The poems here are lit with striking clarity - things retain their outline and solidity to an unusual degree.' Sean O'Brien 'Elaine Feinstein has made the juncture between poetry and memoir her own. As befits a poet who is also a master of fiction and biography, she writes with casual erudition and an acute storyteller's eye. Her forays into European culture and history are dazzling. Cities is a profoundly humane, intimate exploration of the places and stages by which a life acquires meaning.' Fiona Sampson Praise for Elaine Feinstein 'Like numerous English readers, I owe my discovery of Tsvetaeva to the multi-talented poet and writer, Elaine Feinstein... Feinstein's translations prove that a poem can be re-born in its adoptive language.' - Carol Rumens 'Talking to the Dead is arguably Elaine Feinstein's best collection. Beautifully crafted, deeply felt, totally earned, these poems of love and bereavement, and more, will expand her readership well beyond the readers and writers of contemporary poetry who have long loved and treasured her exemplary contribution to the art.' Carol Ann Duffy 'Beautiful, generous, wonderfully intense poems ... Anyone who has ever felt comforted in grief by words, or who has lived through that tension between tenderness, longing and guilt, will recognize their precision and their truth.' Ruth Padel 'These are more than elegies, they are alchemy; the emotional force of the book is so strong that the dead come walking out of the pages.' Jo Shapcott 'For more than 40 years, Feinstein has been writing intensely lyrical, finely crafted poems. Those in [Talking to the Dead] are honest and moving, and are among her very best.' No. 1 in *'The Ten Best New poetry collections' - the Independent, 2007* Elaine Feinstein and Roy Fisher have each established such a hold in British poetry that a new collection from either will surely be valued. read more Elaine Feinstein and Roy Fisher have each established such a hold in British poetry that a new collection from either will surely be valued. read more Journeys and Joy, Pain and Pleasure. read more The Independent 'Poets in perpeptual motion' by Michael Horovitz The opening sequence of Elaine Feinstein's new volume , "Migrations", compares the transglobal movements of our feathered friends "using the stars, along/ flyways old as Homer and Jeremiah", and those of humans, including all her grandparents who "came from Odessa/ a century ago". read more Few poets are as successful as Elaine Feinstein at turning the personal into the professional; at making art out of biography and transforming the individual into the universal. read more Compared with America, Britain is strangely deficient in leading Jewish poets. read more A poem called 'Long Life' concludes Elaine Feinstein's Cities and ends: 'My generation may not be/nimble but, forgive us,/we'd like to hold on, stubbornly/content - even while ageing.' read more You might also be interested in: Borrowed Landscapes Peter Scupham ReBerth Edited by Jim Hinks	Share this... 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