When Saint Francis put his coat away,
he wasn’t cold. He was cold from a past life
that fermented to become wine.
Tomaž Šalamun (1941–2014) published more than 50 books of poetry in Slovenia. Translated into over 25 languages, his poetry received numerous awards, including the Jenko Prize, the Prešeren Prize, the European Prize for Poetry, and the Mladost Prize. Kiss the Eyes of Peace: Selected Poems 1964-2014 was published by Milkweed Editions in 2024 and was shortlisted for the 2025 Griffin Poetry Prize.
Brian Henry is the author of eleven books of poetry, most recently Permanent State, and the prose book Things Are Completely Simple: Poetry and Translation. He has translated Tomaž Šalamun’s Woods and Chalices and Kiss the Eyes of Peace: Selected Poems 1964-2014 (shortlisted for the 2025 Griffin Prize), as well as six books by Aleš Šteger, most recently Burning Tongues: New and Selected Poems.
