Haiku to Vilnius received tercets by Kazys Bradūnas

A few days ago the organisers of Haiku to Vilnius were again astonished. Right before the weekend a woman knocked on the door and brought a sheet of paper full of haiku. Hard to believe but it came from the Lithuanian poet in his 80s Kazys Bradūnas.

The poet’s daughter who brought the haiku to us said, “Dad was charmed with this idea and though he is already ninety years old and it is difficult for him to walk, he was determined to write ten haiku and dedicate them to Vilnius. He said that Vilnius citizens should rather read poetry on the walls than make them dirty. I am happy to be able to contribute to this idea as well”.

Kazys Bradūnas was born in 1917 in Kiršai Village (by the way, the same where Salomėja Nėris came from). Upon the end of the World War II he went to the West and the USA and was an active player in emigrant communities but later he returned to the homeland and now lives in Vilnius. Kazys Bradūnas published several tens of poetry collections and critical works and is a cavalier of the Order of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Gediminas of Degree IV. He is a member of the Lithuanian Writers’ Union and in 2002 he received the award of the Poetry Spring.