In the awful days of the Yezhovschina I passed seventeen months in the outer waiting line of the prison visitors in Leningrad. Once, somebody ‘identified’ me there. Then a woman, standing behind me in the line, which, of course, never heard my name, waked up from the torpor, typical for us all there, and asked me, whispering into my ear (all spoke only in a whisper there):
“And can you describe this?”
And I answered:
“Yes, I can.”
Then the weak similarity of a smile glided over that, what had once been her face.

April 1, 1957; Leningrad
- Poetryloverspage

Anna Akhmatova has been called the heart and soul of St. Petersburg tradition of Russian poetry, and with good reason. Akhamatova was born in 1889, and published her first book of poetry in 1912 at the age of 23. The book was so successful that by the time her second book was published in 1914, there were thousands of women composing their own poetry “after Akhmatova”. She was known as the Soul of the Silver Age and the Queen of the Neva – tributes to her popularity as a writer and an icon. But her poetry also spoke out against the regime in power, and from 1925 to 1952, Akhmatova was effectively silenced, forbidden to publish poetry by the government. During those years, her first husband was executed and her son imprisoned, some say to ensure her silence. The poem that is considered one of her greatest, Requiem, from which the quote above is taken, was not published in full in her native Russia until 1987.

Akhmatova”s poetry is lyrical and haunting, whether she is writing about a pivotal moment in a relationship between man and woman, or between a country and its people. Her story represents something that we here in the U.S. don”t see often – blatant, repressive censorship by the regime in power. We came closest during the McCarthy era – and even that was a bare shadow of what has been suffered by other writers in other times and other nations. Akhmatova”s life is the subject of a new play by Australian playwright John Aitken, which will be presented at The Blue Room Theatre, 53 James Street, Northbridge. The announcement of the play at Hi Spirits, a blog by Australian writer Andrew Burke led me to Akhmatova, and to some of the most arresting poetry in translation that I have ever read. It”s yet another argument for the open publication available on the net to bloggers and poets, writers, journalists – the sharing of words and ideas across the world instead of just across the table.

If you”ve never read anything by Akhmatova, I encourage you to find her and read her. Decide for yourself whether she would have remained an enduring presence in the literature of Russia and the world had she not gone head to head with the regime in power.