By Tomaž Šalamun

Please note: this item is a damaged, unsealed copy of Druids (Hardcover) from our retail returns selection. It’s still a good and fine book object.

Slovenian poet Tomaž Šalamun (1941-2014) is hailed as one of the most prominent poets of his generation, renowned for his impact on the Eastern European avant-garde movement. He authored over forty collections of poetry in Slovenian and English, and this collection exemplifies the best of what he is known for in its experiments with surrealism, polyphony, and absurdism. It’s the world we know made completely anew, where “City buses / resemble / quiet polite / people.” Šalamun’s unique voice will linger on for years to come in the influence it has left with artists, writers, and readers.

He draws,
with his shoulder,
in the air
a fox,
unknowingly. With his senses

he swings the tray’s
handle, pauses,
sways

and arranges
himself as glitter, a net,
knowingly.

I saw you in a black sweater.
You were guzzling black golden wads of cotton.