Vanishing Lung Syndrome

Miroslav Holub

I have another new hero in the fight against the utter destruction of poetry that is going on around me, and his name is Miroslav Holub.

Vanishing Lung Syndrome is one of those books that grabs hold from the first page and stays with you long after you've put it down. Perfectly-crafted (and what's more impressive, perfectly-translated) gems of poetry that have an almost instinctive understanding of what makes poetry most effective.

"Inside, there may be growing
an abandoned room,
bare walls, pale squares where pictures hung,
a disconnected phone,
feathers settling on the floor
the Encyclopedists have moved out and
Dostoyevsky never found the place..."
(--"Vanishing Lung Syndrome")

An incredible piece of work. Find this. Read it.