Books on my nightstand this week

1. Mirkka Rekola: Runot 1954-1978 [Poems 1954-1978] (1978) including Vedessä palaa [Burning in the Water] (1954), Tunnit [The Hours] (1957), Syksy muuttaa linnut [The Autumn Migrates the Birds] (1961), Ilo ja epäsymmetria [Joy and Asymmetry] (1965), Anna päivän olla kaikki [Let the Day Be Everything] (1968), Muistikirja [Notebook] (1969), Minä rakastan sinua, minä sanon sen kaikille [I Love You, I Tell It to Everybody] (1972), Tuulen viime vuosi [Last Year of the Wind] (1974), Kohtaamispaikka vuosi [Meeting Place the Year] (1977), Maailmat lumen vesistöissä [Worlds in the Water System of the Snow] (1978). - Juha Siltanen recommended me to read poems at the hospital. So I started with Mirkka Rekola, prominent right now with a new collection of poems, but this is a collection of her earlier work. Among the recurrent themes is the light, in the spirit of "let there be light".

2. Parnasso 7/2011: the literary magazine is hugely readable right now as edited by Jarmo Papinniemi. Highlights: Anne-Maria Latikka: Alaviitteitä elämään [Footnotes to Life], the Parnasso essay contest winner, inspired by a visit to James Joyce's grave in Zürich. Katja Seutu on Auli Viikari the great inspirer, Karri Kokko on the indefatigable Juri Nummelin ("Duracell Juri") - 39 years old, he already has published 52 books, including several on the cinema. Harri Veivo on Vastakaanon. Suomalainen kokeellinen runous 2000-2010 [Anti-Canon. Finnish Experimental Poetry 2000-2010]: poetry in the cyber-age.