Leonid Aronzon was born in Leningrad (St Petersburg) on 24 March 1939. His poetic gifts ripened early but simultaneously with the blight of osteomyelitis. Aronzon could not publish any of his poetry during his lifetime, but did record his output onto tape. He committed suicide on 13 October 1970, aged only 31.

For Aronzon nature in all its glory is nonetheless metaphorical. He is an intensely visual, even visionary poet with a sense of humour bordering on the surreal. He is also a product of the Sixties and his own brand of ’flower power’ results in perhaps the best poetry of that decade.

Aronzon is classified neither as a Soviet or dissident poet, but as an exponent of the Third Literature which is only now gaining recognition.