Arkadii Dragomoshchenko (1946–2012)

It was with great sadness that I heard this heartbreaking news. From when I first met Arkadii in the 1980s, to his semester-long stay with his wife Xena in Buffalo in the early 1990s, to Susan, Felix and my visit to St. Petersburg in 2001, to his recent visit to New York and to Penn two years ago, I have felt a deep kinship with Arkadii, a poetic and personal affinity that goes beyond any national or linguistic borders. A great companion in life and poetry has left the earth but not the world.

ATD’s death was reported about three hours ago on Facebook by Aleksandr Skidan and Mikhail Iossel.

[photo above by Dragomoshchenko; Dragomoshchenko photo by me from Nov. 2010]