"Verse of Love and Loss" is a selection of poems spanning ten years in Mikhail Iliev's life. Distinct clusters of imagery and emotion, as well as formal indicia like rhythm, rhyme and diction, characterize the time and space in which each poem was created. Thus, a series of impressions coalesce into a picture of Iliev's poetic development and emotional gait throughout these years.

Reading "Verse of Love and Loss" is similar to feeling head over heels in love and waking every night with terror in your heart. It is like being lost in a dark cold wood, with no living thing around, and feeling...