In 2015 Neputns published Madara Gruntmane’s debut collection of poetry Narkozes (Narcoses), which announced a new voice in Latvian poetry – fresh, expressive and provocatively open. This intonation continues in the second collection, opening up new themes and questions.
The editor Guntars Godiņš writes about the book: "Madara Gruntmane’s second poetry collection Dzērājmeitiņa (Drinking Maid) is kind of a dialogue between the imaginary and the real “I”, between the instinctive subconscious and the tangible reality. Her wish to be free from the influence of canonical, dogmatic thinking, traditional presumptions and norms of perception and judgement results in provocative poetry, which is sometimes naive and demands protection. The text is impulsive, intense and succinct – a code which needs to be deciphered in order to experience it. There is no verbosity, metaphorical exaggerations or sentimentality; instead, it is sensuous, direct and erotic with its improvisation, informal language elements and irony characteristic of slams."
I continue writing frankly and succinctly, openly documenting my feelings and events. In this collection my focus is more on the inner world, on what happens to a person who has lost his/her reality; whether it is possible, after it has happened, to pull oneself together or to meet oneself again. There is a dialogue in this collection between the Drinking Maid and Madara. Who is who? Or, perhaps, they are two in one?
Madara Gruntmane