An original collection of work by the great Serbian poet of the twentieth century. Vasko Popa is widely recognized as one of the great poets of the twentieth century, a riddling fabulist, whose work, taking its bearings from the songs and folklore of his native his Serbia and from surrealism, has a dark gnomic fatalistic humor and pathos that are like nothing else. Charles Simic, a master of contemporary American poetry, has been translating Popa’s work for more than a quarter century. This revised and greatly expanded edition of Simic’s Popa is a revelation.

Offers a selection from one of Europe's richest traditions of folk literature.

The definitive, complete edition of the master poet who was championed, and is introduced here, by Ted Hughes.

Poetry. Bilingual Edition. Translated from the Polish by Piotr Florczyk. "At the start of this book you will find one of my favorite poems from contemporary Poland, 'My Wife's Spine.' 'And when my wife's pregnant / her spine is a bough of an apple tree, ' Jaros aw Miko ajewski begins, innocently enough, and then: 'On nights of animal love / it is the zipper in a suitcase / that won't close, even under a knee' and wow, we say, just about to take a surprised breath, when a poet surprises us again: 'On nights of human love / it is the steel rope / at the highest voltage, ' and he goes on, with each metaphor more unpredictable than the previous: 'On the noon walk / my wife's spine is the flag / carried by the pilgrims' guide in a crowded church.' This is contemporary European poetry at its best, I think: tender, unpredictable, a hymn, a love poem, a moment of laughter, of revelation. And, there are many moments like that in this collection, where 'the earth howls loudly / because I've gone upstairs' reading such lines one thinks of the lineage of Vasko Popa and Miroslav Holub, but there is a new music, too, set 'to the words that have aged / since the last trip / "aeroporto" and "areoporto"' and there is new wisdom, too: 'how the words age in me, ' says the poet. Indeed. 'They are like soft gums / losing teeth.' This is beautiful poetry. One's gratitude is to Piotr Florczyk for bringing this new voice, previously unknown to Americans, and making this poet available in lines that captivate. Polish poets are much beloved in America today, but introducing a new voice is never an easy task. And Florczyk has done this many times over. This generosity of spirit is astounding." Ilya Kaminsky "Who's Jaros aw Miko ajewski? Is he an angry poet? No, not really. Is he pater familias? Yes, he is, but this doesn't tell us much about his poetry. Reading his poems we follow his itinerary, we go with him to Rome he's at home in the Italian culture though his first home is in Warsaw, we see his wife, his daughters, we remember his father. Miko ajewski's poetry is alive. This is a huge praise, maybe the highest one: it's not an academic enterprise. His poems are kicking, running, appealing to us, readers. His poems live." Adam Zagajewski"

This work analyzes and elucidates the principal motifs and images in Popa's work in relation to Yugoslav traditions of myth, time, and history. Popa's poetry reflects a fascinating synthesis of existential concerns and a primitivist belief in the transcendent dimensions of human existence. The pagan vision of man and time in Papa's principal collections signifies an attempt to compensate for the loss of faith which lies at the root of twentieth-century existentialism. The modernist sense of rootless and alienation is overcome by a return to the mythic roots of poetry, language and human existence.