The Wandering Border

By Jaan Kaplinski

The poems in Jaan Kaplinski's The Wandering Border engage with politics, nature, observation, children, sadness, the senses, knowledge, the seasons, and dreams. A substantial collection from a leading European poet, essayist, anthropologist, and translator.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1556590105
• ISBN13: 9781556590108
• Release Date: January 1987
• Publisher: Copper Canyon Press
• Length: 96 Pages
• Weight: 0.34 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 6.0" x 8.8"

Customer Reviews

An Estonian Masterpoet

For anyone who has read the great poets of the twentieth century, the bulk of the list often contains names from the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Russia, and South America. Wallace Stevens, Philip Larkin, Paul Eluard, Rainer Maria Rilke, Montale, Garcia Lorca, Boris Pasternak, Anna Akhmatova, Jorge Luis Borges and Pablo Neruda are all names we commonly know. What about Jaan Kaplinski? What about this poet from Estonia? If you think you have read all the great European and Anglo-American/South American masters of verse, I highly recommend this small but immense book of poetry. It is filled to the brim with a great reverence and knowledge of the world, of philosophy, history, anthropology, literature. And yet it is simple. Kaplinski is at home with everyone - with his family, his native Estonia and the great thinkers and artist of the past. There is something so simple and clear here, something so beautiful I really can't name it or truly describe it. This book must be read. Kaplinski is not commonly known in the west because he cares little for fame. He is concerned about groceries, about the children, about his wife. Where Rilke is in love with existence and Lorca dreams about Gypsy Spain, while Neruda is organic, lush with Eros and Stevens is existential, Kaplinski simply is Kaplinski. He reminds me of that Zen proverb we often quote: "Chop wood, carry water." Life is life. It is more, it is less, it is everything and nothing. These poems are quiet, simple, direct and also rich. For such a small book of poetry, there is a vastness here, a breadth beyond the mundane. This volume speaks volumes. Read it again and again. The rustic simplicity will capture you.