Ljubljana

The seventy-seven poems that form Meta KuA'ar's "Ljubljana" pay complex homage to her home city, the Slovenian capital. Although her vision of Ljubljana begins with places, buildings, bridges - the city the visitor sees - the poet very soon takes us to the insider's Ljubljana, a personal space alive with associations and images, rich with references. As she senses the depths and inter-connections under the city's skin, the city becomes a place of mind and memory, almost an extension of her body. At the same time, KuA'ar leads us into a wider meditation on the links between who and where we are, and between present experience and cultural heritage. In this beautifully modulated translation, and with introductory material that guides us through unfamiliar territory, the English-language reader can savour and enjoy the work of one of Slovenia's most individualistic and highly-regarded poets for the first time.