Alexei Salnikov is a poet, prose writer, author of the novels “The Petrovs in the Flu and Around It” and “The Department,” as well as three collections of poetry. Winner of the “National Bestseller” award, finalist of the “Big Book” and “NOS” awards. The new novel “Indirectly” presents an alternative reality, where poetry is not just text, but a real drug. The girl Lena composes her first poem at the age of seventeen, to get the approval of your best friend's older brother. And then he can’t quit. Poems become grief for her, and consolation, and a way to earn money, and witchcraft, and a part of everyday life - closer to family and friends. They don’t go away, you can’t throw them out, you can’t get rid of them, probably because blood is not water, but still partly ink.