"And, yes, the poems are also a profound reflection on the clouds descending on Iraq, ‘war by war’. But Mikhail’s poems explore the moments of transcendence in all that. For every one of these short poems, which has a slightly propagandist lilt to it, such as, ‘Ask not how many houses were built. / Ask how many residents remained the houses’, with its conscious echo of John Kennedy; there are several small jewel like pieces that are truly luminous: ‘The sun reveals / a hole in the boat, / a glow in the fins / of fish still breathing.’" Ian Pople The Manchester Review

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