The Lunatic

From Pulitzer Prize winner and former Poet Laureate Charles Simic comes a dazzling collection of poems as original, meditative, and humorous as the legendary poet himself.This latest volume of poetry from Charles Simic, one of America’s most celebrated poets, demonstrates his revered signature style—a mix of understated brilliance, wry melancholy, and sardonic wit. These seventy luminous poems range in subject from mortality to personal ads, from the simple wonders of nature to his childhood in war-torn Yugoslavia.For over fifty years, Simic has delighted readers with his innovative form, quiet humor, and his rare ability to limn our interior life and concisely capture the depth of human emotion. These stunning, succinct poems—most no longer than a page, some no longer than a paragraph—validate and reinforce Simic’s importance and relevance in modern poetry.The ordinary and the surreal collide in poems that are as startling as they are profound.Surrealist Poetry: Find the strange in the everyday, where snowflakes have willpower, insomniacs fight ghosts with swords, and a rat posts a personal ad for a soulmate.Dark Humor: A signature blend of wry melancholy and sardonic wit that finds the absurdity in graveyards, firing squads, and the lonely corners of the city.Meditative and Observational: Quiet, profound reflections on mortality, memory, and the inner life, captured with the masterful precision of a former Poet Laureate.Compact and Powerful Prose Poems: Seventy luminous poems, many no longer than a paragraph, each one a concise and unforgettable glimpse into the human experience.