Christopher Merrill has published four collection of poetry, including Watch Fire and is the author of several books of non-fiction inclusing the recent, Things of a Hidden God: Journey to the Holy Mountain. He has translated work from several languages and his works include Anxious Moments by Ales Debeljak. He directs the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa. Christopher Merrill has published four collection of poetry, including Watch Fire and is the author of several books of non-fiction inclusing the recent, Things of a Hidden God: Journey to the Holy Mountain. He has translated work from several languages and his works include Anxious Moments by Ales Debeljak. He directs the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa.
What a joy -- a large, wonderfully selected collection of Tomaz Salamun's poems -- one of Europe's great philosophical wonders. Finally seeing so much of the work in one sequence makes clear how brilliantly and stubbornly -- and uniquely -- he has explored the nature of the real, how many avenues of perception he has coursed down. Realism, surrealism, song, aphorism, lyric, anti-lyric -- everything from Apollinaire's physical wonders to Rilke's theological fears swirl through these beautiful, scary, and deeply original poems. -- Jorie Graham.