Yesterday we celebrated the birthday of Russian essayist & poet Joseph Brodsky (24 May 1940 – 28 January 1996). A Jew born in Leningrad, Brodsky is known for his powerful insights, as well as creating tension between seemingly random images and subtle rhyming. Books and Poems by Joseph Brodsky 1 ) While working as an aid to a coroner and a geologist, Brodsky studied English, Polish, wrote poetry and translated into Russian the work of John Donne and Czeslaw Milosz. Brodsky’s poetry impressed a leading Russian poet Anna Akhmatova who became his mentor. 2 ) In 1964 Brodsky was arrested. Charged with the crime of “social parasitism” Brodsky was sentenced him to five years of hard labor. Major Soviet paper called his work”pornographic and anti-Soviet”, and the authorities found that his odd jobs and profession as a “psuedo-poet” did not meet the “constitutional duty to work honestly for the good of the motherland.” Luckily for him, prominent literary figures protested and the sentence was commuted. 3 ) In 1971, Brodsky was twice invited to emigrate to Israel, however he declined. When the Ministry of the Interior heard that he wanted to stay, they broke into his apartment, took his papers…