Andrei Sen-Senkov is one of the most unusual writers in contemporary Russian poetry. Raised in Tajikistan, he studied medicine in Yaroslavl and has performed his poetry in Albania and North Carolina. No less eclectic and unpredictable is the list of subjects that have inspired his work: details from the biography of Wittgenstein, a random news report on suicides in India, a list of exotic constellations and fridge magnets all serve as departure points for a fanciful chain of associations. The precision and unexpectedness of his thought process, the frequent choice of the theme of illness, the unfailing discovery of a harmonious and complete picture of the world, and a tendency toward ordering scenes and sketches into series and cycles — all this has led critics to compare his poetry with acupuncture, which was one of his medical specialities. Like when we pierce our bodies with needles, Sen-Senkov’s poetry is curative but its method of action not entirely explainable.