This work was published in Moscow in 1953, though it was unknown in the United States until its global premiere at the International Double Reed Society Convention 2003. We have oboist Marc Finc to thank for rediscovering this piece and bringing it to the forefront of our literature from his travels to the St. Petersburg and Moscow Conservatory libraries to research 20th-century Russian oboe music the year prior. Dranishnikova was the daughter of a prominent conductor and studied piano with Nadezhda Golubovskaya at the Leningrad Conservatory, though little more is known of her biography. This piece is dedicated to Vladimir Kurlin, who was solo oboist of the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra (now named the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra) and with whom Dranishnikova reportedly had a tragic love affair.25 This piece is a representation of their romance.
Poem is deeply romantic in nature. With beautiful and sweeping melodies that are fixed within a distinct key area, rubato is heavily utilized. It also contains extensive chromaticism, complex rhythms, and mixed meters. Likewise, the piano music is written in a soloistic manner that makes this piece a virtuosic and involves work for the pianist to learn and perform. In this approximately nine-minute piece, nine key signatures are explored.26 Likewise, Dranishnikova employs twelve different time signatures along with tedious syncopation against an asymmetrical phrase structure. The form oscillates between largo and allegretto sections, with familiar motives being restated in a unique manner.