Poems in this small book are not the result of persistent work at the table. This is a reaction to some events. The verse comes all at once or almost like that. For example, the verse "Stones" was

written in thirty minutes. There are no parodies here. Just

sometimes well-known poetry influences the rhythm of a new poem.

The book and the first verse are called "The Tenth Pair." For

every worn pair of hiking boots is a kind of milestone in my life, and it is not about miles behind me.

Regards,

Michael

Michael Kuts was born in 1954 in Simferopol. He lived with his parents in Western Ukraine and in Murmansk. In 1976 Michael graduated from the Sevastopol Instrument-Making University.

In the Sevastopol design bureau, he designed new ships and floating drilling rigs. Since most the projects were built in other cities, Michael traveled a lot and lived away from home for months.

He became interested in tourism back in high school. In 1974 Michael became a licensed instructor of mountain hiking. Walked many kilometers across Crimea peninsula. Traveled in the Caucasus mountains, in the Carpathians, in the Sayan Mountains. It was on the trail, when he met his wonderful wife, Lena.

Having moved to Israel in 1996, Mikhail further expanded the horizons of his travels and get together a good team of his friends and fellow hikers.

The poems collected in this small book came to him on their own, as a reflection of interesting events and, sometimes, in rhymes with his favorite songs.