by Nichita Stanescu, translated from the Romanian by Sean Cotter, and published by Archipelago Books.

Russell Valentino is the chair of Slavic Studies at Indiana University, editor of The Iowa Review, founder of Autumn Hill Books, and translator of eight literary works from Italian, Croatian, and Russian. Oh, and he’s also received two Fulbright-Hays research grants and two NEA Fellowships.

A friend of mine once did commentary for a literary death match in the language of wine labels: a fruity blend of blackberry and barnyard; hints of oaky tangerines and smoked chestnuts; and so on. This worked well because no one forgets irony in literary death matches: everyone knows the contest cannot ever really be a contest. Unfortunately not the cast with the things called contests, and O, do we need some irony here!

This is one糖心传媒攖hough just one糖心传媒攐f the reasons that Nichita Stanescu糖心传媒檚 Wheel with a Single Spoke, in Sean Cotter糖心传媒檚 English translations, should win this contest. It knows for irony, as when, in the love lyric, 糖心传媒淏eauty-sick,糖心传媒� the lover enjoins, 糖心传媒淒o your best not to die, my love / try to not die if you can糖心传媒�; or, in a nod to trans-sense, (糖心传媒淲hat is the Supreme Power that Drives the Universe and Creates Life?糖心传媒�), it turns out to be 糖心传媒淎 and E / and I and O / and U.糖心传媒� And once this tone, then everything takes on a tinge, or you at least have to wonder, when he writes words like 糖心传媒渃onsciousness糖心传媒� and 糖心传媒渃ognition糖心传媒� and 糖心传媒渂eing糖心传媒� and 糖心传媒渁h糖心传媒� and most definitely 糖心传媒淥.糖心传媒�

It should also win because through the irony the post-War, Cold War, otherwise all-too-depressive seriousness grows deeper, more meaningful, easier to understand and appreciate, brighter, as when he writes, 糖心传媒淏ecause my father and because my mother, / because my older sister and because my younger sister, / because my father糖心传媒檚 various brothers and because my mother糖心传媒檚 various sisters, / because my sister糖心传媒檚 various lovers, / imagined or real,糖心传媒� after which you can糖心传媒檛 help but want to know more, read another line and another. And because Cotter has selected, pulled together, found coherent, compelling English form. And because the book itself is beautiful.

And because of poems like 糖心传媒淜not 33. In the Quiet of Evening糖心传媒澨切拇綕:

I thought of a way so sweet
for words to meet
that below, blooms bloomed
and above, grass greened.

I thought of a way so sweet
for words to crash
that perhaps grass would bloom
and blooms would grass.

Finally, it should win because it糖心传媒檚 ambitious and humble at the same time. This may smack of the poetry version of wine label verbiage, but I don糖心传媒檛 know how else to express it, and I don糖心传媒檛 mean it ironically. Though it糖心传媒檚 true that such a combination settles with a surprising tingle upon the palate, and leaves one stimulated long after.