Moscow is a city whose poetic tradition leaves something to be desired. The body of poetry written about Moscow seems modest compared to that of its principal rival, St. Petersburg. This situation becomes especially apparent during city festivities, as bureaucrats dig through poetry books in search of suitable quotes to put on banners; often, they come up with rather obscure results. In St. Petersburg, such a search would lead to an embarrassment of riches.

Granted, Alexander Pushkin, the poet of this nation, was born in Moscow and dedicated a few sympathetic lines to his native city. And it was during Pushkin's bicentennial in 1999 when Moscow first tried to reinvent itself as a world poetry capital, hosting the First Moscow International Poetry Biennale. The biennale has been held regularly since then, and on Tuesday, the fourth edition kicks off, running on various stages through Oct. 1.

Organized by the Foundation of Creative Projects, a cultural nonprofit, and supported by the city government and the Culture and Press Ministry, the festival will feature readings, discussions and other happenings. An interesting plot twist masterminded by the organizers involves soirees featuring poets from two countries that have historically had an uneasy relationship. The pairings include Russia-Germany, Russia-Israel and Israel-Germany. This reflects the theme of this year's biennale, "The Dialectics of Overcoming," a choice inspired by the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II; the idea is that poetry is trying to reconcile the tensions still palpable in the human psyche. Along similar lines is a reading by poets from Ukraine writing in Ukrainian and Russian. Called "Overcoming Language," the reading will likely reflect the linguistic battles that have been raging in Ukraine since the country gained its independence.

Among the stranger events of the biennale is "The Poet's Head," described in the program as "the readings and discussion of poets who have had head trauma or other neurological problems." Fittingly hosted by the Ecology and Evolution Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the event must have surely been inspired by Sergei Gandlevsky, one of Russia's best poets writing today, who described his own experiences with head trauma in his novella "Opening the Skull."

Other planned events include a reading by the well-known Senegalese poet Amadou Lamine Sall and a recital of "sound poetry," whatever that means, by a duet from Austria. A complete schedule may be found on www.ftp-culture.ru. In today's world, where a book of poetry can hardly become a sensation, a festival like this augurs a welcome trend and shows that poetry's cause is not yet lost.