Don Mager

Don Mager’s most recent book of poems, The Present Tense, was published in August 2018. He has nine earlier books and chapbooks. Us Four Plus Four is an anthology of translations from eight major Soviet-era Russian poets. It is unique because it tracks almost a half-century of their careers by simply placing the poems each wrote to the others in chronological order. The 85 poems represent one of the most fascinating conversations in poems produced by any group of poets in any language or time period. Poets include Akhmatova, Pasternak, Tsvetaeva, and Mandelstam. At 76, Don is retired.