The Tortoise of History - by Anselm Hollo (Paperback)

About the Book

In this posthumous collection from an avant-garde great, Hollo's spare, sly, lyrical greatness is on display a final time.

Book Synopsis

From "Art History"

Someone comes along
gives that tedious old thing
a new twist or
breaks its neck

the old questions
don't change:

what do you want me to say?
what do you want me to do?

Anselm Hollo (1934-2013) authored more than forty books and was an award-winning translator. Born in Helsinki, Finland, he was fluent in German, Swedish, Finnish, and English by age ten. Hollo eventually settled in the United States in 1966, where he taught at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado.

Review Quotes

"In this posthumous trove of brief, zestful poems, Hollo. . . relates the 'incredible ONSLAUGHT of being, ' seemingly dashing off each of these frenetic, fragmented vignettes in a fit of wild gusto." --Publisher's Weekly

"Hollo's poetry feels remarkably fresh and spontaneous. There is absolutely no artifice, no structural formality, no evident prosody." --Heavy Feather Review

About the Author

Anselm Hollo (1934-2013) authored more than forty books and was an award-winning translator. Born in Helsinki, Finland, he was fluent in German, Swedish, Finnish and English by age ten. After a decade in England writing and broadcasting for the BBC European Services, Hollo eventually settled in the United States in 1966, where he taught at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado. His collection of poems, Notes on the Possibilities and Attractions of Existence, received the San Francisco Poetry Center Award.