A modern sensibility suffused with urban sophistication. In everyday scenes he shows us what's most noble in human relationships, alongside the basest fears and anxieties. Irony and sarcasm somehow never seem to obscure the warmth of Kārlis's voice and his attention to intimate details. This book represents Kārlis at the peak of his poetic power: gripping, vivid and not a little romantic. Kārlis himself says: I try to say something that I would like to present as beautiful or, on the contrary, something that can not and must not be taken as beautiful.
Gentle, intelligent and tactful, Kārlis Vērdiņs became the leader of his generation. For all of us, his poetry was a refuge - a different world whose chaos was imbued with understanding. He is a role model for poets - but the kind of role model that no one can really match.
-Jānis Joņevs, Writer, recipient of the 2014 European Union Prize for Literature
Kārlis Vērdiņs is funny, clever, quirky, musical, sweet, puzzled, charming, intense, meticulous, whimsical, gentle, and slightly fantastical. So are his poems. He is a master craftsman with a miraculously unique way of seeing the world.
-Gabriel Jackson, Composer