I když se umíš smát jak dalajláma – Vatulíková Andrea (2021)

The second book by poet Andrea Vatulíková (1984) comes eleven years after her striking debut, She is the Tragic Type... It does not contain just a narrow selection of texts, some sort of crème de la crème, but a rich and generous collection of works spanning more than a decade. It is a broad, swollen river that uncompromisingly sweeps along everything in its path. It is primarily about loves, one after another, often overlapping bohemianly, disappearing and then happily (or not so happily) resurfacing; however, besides women, including the 'fateful' one, there are also men – especially the poet František Listopad (1921-2017), with whom Andrea Vatulíková shared a deep and inspiring friendship. The collection Even If You Can Laugh Like the Dalai Lama is full of poetry – beautifully unkempt, sometimes touching, at other times rude, brutally honest, raw to the point of cynicism, and going against the grain. But there is also nostalgia, well-concealed sorrow and loneliness, much desire – not just physical – and yes, even that derided romance. The poet gives abundantly, and you, dear reader, can nibble on the hors d'oeuvres – or let yourself be swept away by the current. If contemporary Czech poetry has a full-blooded beatnik, then it is Andrea Vatulíková.