Wisp

“Once in a while, ‘under the radish moon,’ arrives good news: From one of Germany’s most talented living poets comes a new collection, in David Keplinger’s luminous translation. Wisp transforms ordinary objects, animals, landscapes, and historical figures into portals of reflection. ‘You exist because a deer sees you,’ says the poet, and ‘where rain ends, we begin.’ Jan Wagner’s voice shape-shifts effortlessly, ‘walking with wet feet through life.’ So, tires become black holes, carrots become subterranean rockets, rain becomes the memory of the planet. Or, perhaps they have always been that way and we just didn’t notice—until this book.”—Ilya Kaminsky, author of Deaf Republic

“Jan Wagner’s stunning collection in its original German demands this translation. David Keplinger’s meticulous rendition stays true to Wagner’s cauldron of images voiced by the speaker’s psyche—wrought in a precise magic that amplifies inner and outer worlds, where human imagination acts upon nature. Through metaphor the poet confronts the reader—‘the audience, beside themselves, agog.’ Each trope in Wisp is a revelation.”—Yusef Komunyakaa, author of Neon Vernacular

“Jan Wagner’s poems enchant the commonplace: radishes sprout as Apollos, flamingos bend into question marks, a saw bites with piranha teeth. Nothing holds still. And David Keplinger casts a responsive spell in English. At a touch of his translator’s wand, rhymes and wordplay spring into new song shapes, and the reader, bewitched, becomes ‘an unraveled traveler’ in this youthful, revelatory, and metamorphic German poetry.”—Rosanna Warren, author of So Forth