A monument to the poet P. Širvys

P. Širvys born in 1920 in Padustėlis, Zarasai district. However, he grew up in Degučiai, Rokiškis district where his parents had a farm. Today, the birthplace is marked by a monumental stone. The future poet studied at the Aleksandravėlė Primary School. Unfortunately, the school, which was given the name of P. Širvys, no longer existed, but the people of Aleksandravėlė did not forget the poet.

In 1940  P. Širvys graduated from the Salos Agricultural School.  After the war, until 1946, he worked in the Rokiškis district communist youth committee,  he was associated with the regional press for seven years after the war – he started working in the editorial office of „Tarybinis Rokiškis“, gained journalistic experience and  authority here.  In the 1950, he was entrusted with the management of the newly established Pandėlys district newspaper “Spalio pergalė”.

In the first year after the war, while working in Rokiškis, P. Širvys tried to present the impressions of the struggles in the form of prose.  He wrote outlines, short stories, articles, and correspondence that readers loved.  His first poems appeared in the newspaper „Tarybinis Rokiškis“.  “Life has taught me to hold my teeth firmly, squeeze my heart like a grenade and keep it from exploding.