Ryzard Krynicki, Magnetic Point (2017)

Clear water knapped to obsidian sharpness—this is the quality of Ryszard Krynicki's poems. Krynicki plays on his almost-impossible instrument a human music unheard elsewhere. Within its notes: personal history; politics; the earth's beings, salts, and resins; friendships and eros; ferocity and acceptance; the pages of newspapers and cities; mortality's subtle explorations. This long-awaited translation brings to English-language readers a poet who retunes the ears.