Category: Poetry

In Focus
“it was iron: i thought by János Marno

A fragmentary avantgarde poem by Hungarian poet János Marno, with seemingly no framework, contorted with cynicism, lust, shame, villainy, and terror.

In Focus
Epidemic by Petra Szőcs

The inhabitants of this plague-struck world, in this poem by Hungarian poet Petra Szőcs, are seething with suspicion, horror, fear, and longing.

Poetry
The Ghost of Rococo by János Marno

In this poem by Hungarian poet János Marno in a private moment of near hallucination a ladybird on a finger is mistaken for a drop of blood.

Poetry
Four Poems by Katalin Ladik

Four poems by one of Hungary’s most prominent avant-garde poets.

Poetry
Lie Detector by Petra Szőcs

In this polygraphic poem, by Petra Szőcs, we discover whether any truths are revealed when one’s heart becomes the subject of a lie detector test.

Poetry
Retreat by Marcin Sendecki

Sendecki’s poem is a plot of image and meaning with a characteristically dramatic aura, its microscenes simultaneously intriguing and disturbing.

Poetry
pictures from an exhibition * by Peter Šulej

A poem with a unique strategy of internal, authorial intertextuality, not merely literary play, but a means of perceiving the world.

Poetry
The Personification of Nothing by János Marno

An aphoristic one-word poem by veteran Hungarian poet János Marno that captures both the black humor and the utter pessimism of noir.

Poetry
A Decade-Long Road by Yuliya Musakovska

A poem that seems to be caught in the wind by the roadside, glancing both ways: back to a dreamlike childhood and with hungry eyes to the future.