Selected Poems

Piontek is a major figure in German literature, a lyrical poet whose work reflects the reactions of a generation that witnessed the collapse of the Third Reich and matured under the new order. This selection covers his poetry written from WWII (when he was a prisoner for a brief time) to the present. Piontek has also written novels, literary criticism, and radio plays. He has won several awards including the Buchner and Andreas Gryphius prizes. ""It is a measure of the insularity of the English reading public that a major living German poet, a man whose name is a household word in his own country and who has become a classic in his lifetime, needs to be introduced to the English poetry reader"" - From the foreword by Ewald Osers.