Sonetissimo (Vere 2020-2022) (2026)

This Czech-language collection of poems is a poetry of ideas that comes into its own when read aloud, ideally by the author himself. Its sound, rhythm, melody and unusual turns of phrase bring together literary and archaic expressions with colloquial or vulgar words, while conspicuous Americanisms enter the Czech language. The metaphorical shifts into the literal and back again, creating a tension that moves between the high and the low, the banal and the fateful. Where playfulness and improvisational inventiveness dominated Zdenk Lebls earlier poetry, sadness prevails in his later work. Reconciliation alternates with anger, contemplation with appeals and fury at the worlds shortcomings. Deep poetic metaphors give way to linguistic obscurities and distorted word formation; nothing is certain, and nothing offers safe ground on which to step barefoot. The afterword is by Petr A. Blek.