Metūgės [New Shoots] (Lithuanian linked-poem book published in Canada, 1952)
by Birutė Pūkelevičiūtė (émigrée Lithuanian writer, 1923–2007)
Translations and website text by Aušra Kubilius (2023, with revisions and updates)

“A Literary Gem: now accessible to the English-speaking world”
—Draugas News

“I reflected that the axis of Metūgės revolves around the loneliness of a young woman—in a foreign country . . . in the aftermath of a terrible war.”
—Birutė Pūkelevičiūtė’s introduction

Young forest witches, my young mothers,
suckled me with sweet milk. Stars fell
through my fingers.
So I am like a new shoot — green and
without curse.
—lines from a poem in “My Mothers” (Section 5)

Startling images suffuse these poems, many of them explorations of uneasy love by a passionate female “I.” The speaker engages with nature, sexuality, motherhood, gender roles, religion, God, war, death, and rebirth. The tone ranges from contemplative to defiant, enraged to exultant.  

Metūgės was published well before the second wave of feminism. Delving into a woman’s beliefs, desires, and experiences (real or imagined), this dramatic free verse faced a harsh response from some shocked émigré critics of the time. Later, Pūkelevičiūtė was hailed as an innovative and prescient poet by literary critics and admirers in Lithuania and beyond.

Now, for the first time, the entire sequence has been translated into English: 33 linked poems that also stand alone as compelling vignettes. Only the highlighted translations in the Table of Contents are available on this website; a print publisher is sought for the complete book.

Most of the poems are untitled. The “p” number on each English translation indicates the page number of the original Lithuanian poem in the first edition (see Metūgės-1).

The second edition, published 45 years later in Lithuania, included a poignant introduction by the poet herself (see Metūgės-2).

For a translator’s note and a list of selected resources, please see About.

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