“Simic offers many sinister delights . . . the whole collection establishes Simic once again as a reliable master of his particular, melancholy, wry mode.” —Publishers Weekly
This collection of poems from Charles Simic demonstrates once again his wit, moral acuity, and brilliant use of imagery. His settings are a farmhouse porch, a used-clothing store, empty station platforms; his subjects love, futility, and the sense of an individual life lived among a crowd of literal and imaginary presences.
Both sharp and sympathetic, the poems of this collection confirm Simic’s place as one of the most important and appealing poets of our time.
Praise for Charles Simic
“Few contemporary poets have been as influential—or as inimitable—as Charles Simic.” —The New York Times Book Review
“He has infused American poetry with the freshest and most original style and imagery since e.e. cummings.” —St. Louis Post-Dispatch
“His poems are crowded with uncanny presence, which he challenges with flirtatious directness.” —The New Yorker
“There are few poets writing in America today who share his lavish appetite for the bizarre, his inexhaustible repertoire of indelible characters and gestures . . . Simic is perhaps our most disquieting muse.” —Harvard Review
“Charles Simic’s writing comes dancing out on the balls of its feet, colloquially fit as a fiddle, a sparring partner for the world.” —Seamus Heaney
