Poet and translator Daniel Simko emigrated with his parents to the U.S.A. and lived here until his death, aged 45, in 2004. Steeped in the traditions of European art, Simko remained reticent about publishing. Thanks to his literary executor, Carolyn Forché, this first collection, in the language Simko grew up into, showcases his gift for the unexpected, exact phrase. The Arrival maps a haunting choreography of travel, memory, and the body so gently you will feel you have been carrying this book around with you all along.

DANIEL SIMKO was born in Czechoslovakia and came to this country shortly after the events of 1968. He is the translator of Autumn Sonata by Georg Trakl, which won the Poets’ House Translation Award in 1988. In 1989-90 he held a New York Foundation for the Arts fellowship, and was a fellow at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown.