Influential poetry is a link in the chain. A poem is conceived by the influence of what goes on in the world, and the way the world functions, and in a way, the words of a poem are traces of that influence. However, a good poem is not merely a track of the surrounding reality, but it also creates, burns and corrodes traces on and into everything around it.

The depth of Estonian poetry is revealed by the fact that so many different factors influence its creation. It provides firsthand reactions to everything that is happening here and now. Jürgen Rooste is one of the many young Estonian poets who's work observes what is happening on in our immediate social milieu, and only Rooste has the ability to react to this with intuitive irony and pain. A similar litmus paper of the modern mentality is Elo Viiding, but with a greater degree of consideration; it is almost like she uses words to form a laser beam that leaves deep cuts into everyone who happen to cross its path. It is clear that a trace left by the world often means an abrasion or even an open wound, and in the poetry of Triin Soomets and Kristiina Ehin we can observe how this wound is being healed and kept open simultaneously – how vulnerable spirits face the spirits of time with a courageous and perhaps even cruel smile. In the poetry of Asko Künnap and Jüri Talvet the traces of mass culture blend with a pine that is difficult to phrase; this is where the era and the timeless meet. Künnap's pine moves about the bright lights and smog of European cities, Talvet's pine in the labyrinth of European memory. Perhaps they will meet in Barcelona some day.

The era and the timeless often intertwine with an overwhelming reality in the poetry of Jaan Kaplinski. And the most overwhelming moments are when Kaplinski's poetry brushes off the demands of contemporaneity and focuses on a world where the footprints of people fall into the background or cease to exist. Also, the verbal chains of Lauri Sommer emit a certain magic that is hard to describe, although here the quest for the timeless is on occasion interrupted by the era – like a stroke of lightning. A yearn to ascend above the clouds to the peaks of the mountains of humanity forms the centre of the poetry of Indrek Hirv and Juhan Maiste – up there the air is fresh and sparse, the Sun is bright and one cannot see the city smog from above the clouds. Still, the words of Hirv and Maiste are different: the first burbles like a mountain stream, the other cascades down like an avalanche. Somewhere up above the clouds there is Doris Kareva in limpid solitude, honing her words with the file of silence.

There are words in Estonian poetry that carry a hint of jest or woe in the corner of their mouth, words that speak out like a megaphone, words that seem to have a knowing smile petrified in them, and words who's smile will never petrify, who's joy is thirsty and sadness is bright – listen to Leelo Tungal. However, most importantly – there are words that may stay to observe or leave their traces somewhere – where? – on the things that are happening inside and around us all.