Composed by Eric Banks and sung by Kitka.

“Russia's Sappho,” Sophia Parnok (1885-1933), was the only openly lesbian poet during the Silver Age of Russian letters. Parnok was born in Tagenrog to a Jewish intellectual family. During her short lifetime, she published five volumes of poetry, a substantial body of literary criticism and translation, and authored the libretti of several operas, one of which became a major sensation at the Bolshoi Theater. Nevertheless, few readers have heard of her.

At the beginning of World War I, Parnok, met Marina Tsvetaeva, one of Russia’s most beloved poets, and the two became involved in a passionate love affair. Parnok also had relationships with a number of other remarkable and trailblazing women, including an actress, a mathematician, and a physicist. Bank’s sonic portrait of Parnok tells her story through the courageous poems she wrote to the women she loved. (2014)

Compact disc or high-quality download (link below)