MINNEAPOLIS, MN by Marius Burokas, translated from the Lithuanian by Rimas Uzgiris

MINNEAPOLIS, MN

mid-american rain. wet cubes of space. the

city stands accurate, careless, clean. a naive

and practical gigantomania. i feel younger,

fresher, washed. why is everything here so

much more clear? a sharp siren resounds.

stone shines – this otherness here is more

dear to me than the other i’ve left behind.

red, green, and gray. yellow buses quietly

slide through rain. i also feel older here, a

scoundrel winnowed by life. an eastern eu-

ropean. covered by history’s frayed sheet.

what do i need it for?

who am i in this place?

a question mark. a line.

the body of a comma splitting space.

Author and translator bios:

Marius Burokas is a poet and translator. He studied Lithuanian language and literature at Vilnius University and is the author of five poetry collections which have garnered him the Young Yotvingian Prize and the Poetry Spring Maironis Prize. His latest book, Seismograph, was judged the most creative book of the year for 2025 and also won the Writer’s Union Prize for best book of the year. Burokas’ poetry has been translated into Polish, Russian, Latvian, Finnish, Slovenian, German, Ukrainian, and English, including the collection Now I Understand (Parthian, UK, 2018). His work has also appeared in English translation in London Magazine, Hayden’s Ferry Review, The Brooklyn Rail, and other journals. He translates primarily from English and Ukrainian, and has published over fifty books in his translation.

Rimas Uzgiris is a Lithuanian/American poet and translator. He is the author of North of Paradise (Kelsay Books) and his Khmelnytsky Station won the 2025 Jessie Bryce Niles Chapbook Contest. Uzgiris has also translated eight poetry collections from Lithuanian as well as the Venice Biennale Golden Lion winning opera Sun and Sea. His work has appeared in The Poetry Review, Poetry Daily, TLS, and elsewhere. Uzgiris holds a Ph.D. in philosophy and an MFA in Creative Writing. Recipient of a Fulbright Scholar Grant, NEA Translation Fellowship, and the Lithuanian St. Jerome Translation Prize, he teaches at Vilnius University.

© Marius Burokas. Translation © by Rimas Uzgiris. All rights reserved.

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