From a Terrace in Prague

The idea behind From a Terrace in Prague is so good that once one picks the book up, it's hard to believe it hasn't been done before. But it's the masterful execution of the idea that makes one glad the first crack at such an ambitious project was placed in such able hands.

This collection of 120 poems written in or about Prague was compiled and edited by Stephan Delbos (in the interest of full disclosure, who is also The Prague Post culture editor). The poetry transcends temporal and physical boundaries, with verse compiled between 1888 and the present included, and translated into English from more than 16 languages - Arabic, Chinese and Mongolian among them. The collection includes works by giants like Rilke, Nezval, Seifert, Neruda, Lowell and Havel, as well as writings by poets you still might meet over a pivo or two - or, in the case of much of this crowd, three.

As André Breton - one of the Surrealist movement's founding fathers - noted in a 1935 lecture: "Prague with its legendary charms is, in fact, one of those cities that electively pin down poetic thought, which is always more or less adrift in space."

This text is testament to the inspiring nature of the Golden City, even occasionally for those who have never paid a visit to, as Vítězslav Nezval calls it, the "City of Spires."

As Delbos explains in his appropriately analytical introduction, there are three perspectives from which poets write about Prague. The first are intimate descriptions of the city by people most familiar with it - usually longtime residents. The second are poems coming after brief visits to the city, in which the urban landscape serves as little more than a setting for personal drama. But perhaps the most interesting are the final set, which come from poets who have never visited Prague, but use symbols or historic events from the city in poems - most often, tragedies. It is these poems that dispel any doubt about the inspiration this rather small city provides to artists near and far.

Among such poems is one by the American Robert Lowell, whose poem "From Prague 1968" references an affair he had with a Czechoslovak woman, but also finds itself contending with historic events:

In Prague on the eve of

Liberation you woke

to the Russian troop-

planes landing, chain on

anvil ...

A rare concrete poem by Václav Havel is titled "The Brno Complex," a reference to the Czech Republic's second city. The title is followed by several blank lines until the word "prague" with a lowercase "p" appears near the bottom of the page - clearly a joke at the slight inferiority complex implicit among residents of Moravia's largest city.

While From a Terrace in Prague is clearly of use to bibliophiles, even the casual reader, and pretty much any Prague resident, visitor or poetically-inclined dreamer can see value in this collection. There is a brief biography - with photo - of each poet accompanying their poems, and notes at the end of the book that help fill in any relevant back story. There is also a map in the book's final pages that allows readers to match stanza with setting.

From the aptly named Svatopluk Čech, who was among those that helped revive - some might say invent - the modern Czech language in the mid-19th century, to the contemporary stylings of Scottish poet/swashbuckler Christopher Crawford, this collection is more than just a series of poems (which would be enough) and provides sketches of the history of the Golden City.

In a fitting selection that does much to simultaneously contend with Prague's literary past and present, Crawford's "Poem for the Warring Lovers," recasts the phenomenon of lovers kissing under cherry blossoms in the familiar May 1 tradition, which draws romantic inspiration from Karel Hynek Macha's "May." He writes:

Me against you you

against me

on Petřin Hill

against a tree

me against you

you against me

If there is any shortcoming to this text, it's that the reader, with a taste of each poem and poets' interesting back story, finds himself curious for more. But more history would make this a very different book. From a Terrace in Prague is just what the subtitle says it is: "A Prague Poetry Anthology" - but one that whets the appetite for more, as it hopefully will do for aspiring literary historians.

Here's to hoping that this volume is just the opening volley in a larger conversation about the intersection and evolution of literature, history and social affairs in Prague. Buy this book, read it, and use the map as you walk the Golden City; keep it on the shelf for years to come and wait anxiously for more work from its editor.

Benjamin Cunningham can be reached at
bcunningham@praguepost.com