The previous limited edition of the book was published in 2009 in Wrocław POMONA as a limited edition of 44 copies. This year the Wydawnictwo Wojewódzkiej Biblioteki Publicznej i Centrum Animacji Kultury w Poznaniu (Publishing House of the Regional Public Library and Centre for Culture Animation in Poznań) has given it a larger print run and a new cover specially designed by Paweł Susid, along with three new poems in addition to the original 35.
Piotr Sommer is giving a reading of a selection of these poems at the Tajne Komplety book and coffee shop as part of a special poetry series, later opening up the forum for discussion of the collection and individual poems.
Reviews of "Poems from Words" following the first publication:
Defining the pieces as poetic miniatures would be equally imprecise. This time the intertextual net has mostly genre-related loops. Thus, Sommer approaches the tradition of epigrams, aphorisms, lyrical miniatures, album verse and haiku (particularly subversive) innovatively using at times a pun or paradox.
- Adam Poprawa, Kresy
"Poems of Words". Of what else, really? Still, the title of the latest book by Sommer is exceptionally accurate as the poems are made 'from words' in a unique manner. They are linguistic puns, beautiful slips of the tongue that the poet fished out, pinned and displayed on the book's pages. Sommer becomes an anthropologist of language and at the same time a child in a toy store: amazed at playing with "how one speaks" and "how one doesn't". He has a good laugh revealing our habits or courses that we go off at times breaking the language or creating beauty with one clear sentence. Here is the alchemy of language – leaning towards the truth, a fascinating system ...
- Agnieszka Wolny-Hamkało, Gazeta Wyborcza
Piotr Sommer (b. 1948) is a poet, essayist and translator of the contemporary English-language poetry. His books include: collections of poetry "Pamiątki po nas" / "What We Leave Behind" (1980), "Kolejny świat" / "Another World" (1983), "Czynnik liryczny i inne wiersze" / "The Lyrical Factor and Other Poems" (1988), a volume of literary sketches "Po stykach" / "Contact Lines" (2005), an anthology of American poetry in translation "O krok od nich" (2006), a collection of poems for children "Przed snem" / "Before Sleep" (2008), as well as "Rano na ziemi" / "Morning on Earth" (2009) and "Dni i noce" / "Days and Nights" (2009). Laureate of the Kościelski Award in 1988, nominated for the Nike Literary Price twice: in 2006 for "Po stykach" / "Contact Lines" and in 2010 for "Dni i noce" / "Days and Nights". He is also the recipient of the Silesius Poetic Prize (2010) in recognition for lifetime achievements. Sommer is an editor-in-chief of the "Literatura na świecie" monthly literary journal.
Piotr Sommer - reading:
- 18th of January 2012 at 18:00. Tajne Komplety – Księgarnia Partnerska Dolnośląskiej Szkoły Wyższej – 2 Przejście Garncarskie Street, Wrocław 50-107, tajnekomplety.pl
Piotr Sommer "Wiersze ze słów" / "Poems from Words" cover design: Paweł Susid
Second edition series: Biblioteka Poezji Współczesnej no. 030 Wydawnictwo Wojewódzkiej Biblioteki Publicznej i Centrum Animacji Kultury w Poznaniu - WBPiCAK, Poznań 2011 175 x 175, 48 pp., paperback ISBN 978-83-62717-05-7
First edition Wydawnictwo Pomona, 19th volume of "biblioteka 44" series, Wrocław 2009 190 x 190, 44 pp., paperback ISBN 978-83-906544-8-6
Source: press materials: Tajne Komplety, www.wbp.poznan.pl, pomona.free.art.pl, own materials