Great Regulars: Seeking models for her poetry,

[Elaine] Feinstein explored the speech-patterning of William Carlos Williams and Charles Olson and translated Russian women poets, particularly Maria Tsvetayeva, who "enabled me to write openly. Because she doesn't feel embarrassed about sounding undignified". Feinstein uses the stanza as a framing device, containing episodes; she permits lulls in the rhythm within and between lines, while her diction suggests the sighs and gestures of a lament, the song of the exiled.

The Refugee

from The Times Literary Supplement: Poem of the Week: "The Refugee"

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