Second-Hand Souls

Poetry. Translated from the Romanian by Sean Cotter. Nichita Danilov (b. 1952) places himself in the tradition of mystics such as Meister Eckhart, St, John of the Cross, and Pseudo-Dionysius. Combining the spiritual heritage of his native Romania with a surrealist poetics, his writing is playful, ironic, and language-centered, engaging in games of a metaphysical depth. In this selection of his poetry (presented bilingually) and prose, Danilov describes a world full of caprice in a voice com...