Paní les – Racek Jakub (2024)

The first collection by a poet (born 1999) who studies geography and history at the Faculty of Education at Masaryk University in Brno. He has published in magazines and in 2020 was one of the finalists of the František Halas Literary Competition. The key to the collection lies in the 'forest poems,' inspired by the rhythm of tree planting. The author himself hints: 'For a certain time, I was a forest worker, and Mrs. Forest was my beloved. April mornings with the Carpathian woodcutters were unforgettable. I like to capture life as it is, I like to explore it within the boundaries of the cycle of nature: spring, Indian summer, haymaking, collecting chestnuts, and Advent.' And further? Nothing less than great poetry. Honey traps of language, unheard metaphors, dizzying images, definitions of reality that can be more precise than the truth. And also peculiar Christian allusions, both light and harrowing. And through all this weaves a silent God, who is and is not. 'As you wish, big fish, / here are my snowdrifts.' We have a great poetic talent here that will certainly not be overlooked in the drifts of our literary scene!