The Elephant's Foot

An origami crane in remembrance of Hiroshima. A father's faded old photograph of his 1970s pre-marital sports car. Youths congregated at a bus stop. The sounds of an empty house after the children have flown the nest. Common phrases spoken by US tourists. Gangs fighting to the death. Radioactive clouds raining down over Europe. A collection of Princess Diana memorabilia. Teaching English in Siberia. These are just a handful of the themes touched upon in Michael Oliver-Semenov's deeply personal and introspective first poetry collection.

Cardiff-born Michael Oliver-Semenov served as the first poet in residence for Blown, the magazine of cultural intelligence, and has since published in The Stockholm Review, The Morning Star, Orbis, Mandala Review, Ink Sweat and Tears and 10 of the Best. In 2011 Michael emigrated to Siberia to live with his wife Anastasia, writing about the experience in his memoir Sunbathing in Siberia. When he is not growing vegetables at the family dacha or avoiding the wild Siberian hounds, Michael is also a freelance English teacher and occasionally contributes to The Siberian Times.