Mysticism for Beginners: Poems

Powerful New work by a modern master.

You must listen, listen, listen.
Tired springs breathe under water.
At four in the morning
the last, lonely bolt of lightning
scribbles something quickly in the sky.
It says "No." Or "Never."
Or "Take courage, the fire's not dead."
-from "The Last Storm"

Mysticism for Beginners is the third and most beautiful of Adam Zagajewski's collections to appear in English. The poems are about nature, history, the life of cities, the transformations of art, the spiritual essence of everyday life. Their remarkable staying power derives from the gentle meditative authority of Zagajewski's voice, here expertly rendered into English by Clare Cavanagh. Zagajewski's committed, compassionate poems offer access to the mysteries at the heart of experience.