When I first opened Elena Nigri’s book “Longing for the Red Cat,” I experienced a strange feeling, because only one question sounded in my head: “WHAT is this?” Poems? But they are very strange - not classic, overly laconic, although not related to hockey, but evoking an inexplicable desire to understand: what did the author want to say with all this? Maybe her poems are illustrations for the same unusual paintings by the wonderful artist Anna Silivonchik? Illustrations that, in fact, are as strange as the poems, and bewitching, and attracting, and forcing you to return to yourself, looking at them again and again, in order to finally find some secret message encrypted in them by the author. All the poems in this small book are about the Red Cat. But... who is she? After some time, trying to put together the image of Red, you realize that we are not talking about cats here. Then – about whom or what? About the author's inner world? About some ghostly creature? Of course, the book is unique. Her integrity is impressive. Everyone who had already had the opportunity to see “Longing for the Red Cat” could not leave it unattended, trying to unravel the secret that it keeps within itself. For me personally, this book remains not completely unraveled; it is perceived, rather, at the level of feelings, subconscious sensations, than at the level of common sense. But this is what makes it different from others: each of you will find your own secret meaning in it!