Customer Reviews

Homage to the Lame Wolf: Selected Poems

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This is an incredible collection of poetry by Vasko Popa -- an incredible European poet. The poems are very surreal; it is required to read each poem at least three times in order to grasp its meaning. Each poem has a beautiful and strange world of its own. Plus, there is a lot of magical realism in this book, which is something I always look for in literature.

My favorite Popa poems are "Ashes," "Hunters," and "Heaven's Ring." I also love the Little Box series, especially "The Owners of the Little Box," "The Tenants of the Little Box," and "The Enemies of the Little Box."

This is -- by no stretch of doubt -- the best book of poetry I have ever owned. Charles Simic's translation is excellent; I marvel at his ability to convert beautiful poems into a language that I can appreciate and understand. I highly recommend this incredible book!

I've read two translations of Popa's works. Some individual poems were in both collections. This translation was far better--more poetic. The other may have been more literal, I don't know (it's called "Collected Poems"). This one appears to reflect the poet's feelings. It's quite beautiful as well as frequently profound. I discovered Popa by listening to the C.G. Jung Institute of Chicago audiotape, "The Yawn of Yawns: On the Psychology of Revelation--An Exploration of the Poetry of Vasko Popa" by Josip Pasic. The tape's catalog description states: "the work of te great 20th century Slavic poet...talks about the most basic geometry of the human mind--the archetype of archetypes." It's great. The translator has done a wonderful service to the English reading public.