Dainius Dirgėla is a member of the group “Strangers”, and the author of several poetry collections. His poetry is paradoxical and playful. He is a master of the pithy poetical anecdotes, having an observant eye and ear for everyday strangeness.
Dainius is one of a few truly talented Lithuanian haiku poets (many like to write haiku, but few succeed). As he himself says, “We are not Japanese; our thought, vision, and worldview are different; the Lithuanian language has too many syllables for the haiku form, but this short and strict three-line, seventeen syllable format intrigues me in its concentration of poetic thought.”
The poet himself is also a photographer who feels that the photographic and poetic states of mind are proximate. He likes to fix things side by side: words and images. There probably isn’t a better form for this than haiga – an aesthetic concept, form of expression, originating in 17th c. Japan. It is a subtle synthesis of two art forms, where a picture is connected to poetry, usually haiku.
The Vilnius Review is pleased to offer you a selection of Dirgėla’s haiga – the harmony of word and image.