The Taste of Lightning by Ivan V. Lalić, trans. Francis R. Jones pre-order ‘I was happy being machine

‘I was happy being machine

Through syllable count

subtly changed folk and popular songs and poems which combine historical lyricism and a contemporary understanding of the effects of conflict and trauma

George Mackay Brown

Dean Rhetoric’s poetry shakes things up

The Taste of Lightning by Ivan V. Lalić, trans. Francis R. Jones pre-order ‘I was happy being machinePublished 20th November 2025. The Taste of Lightning is a new selection of poems by Ivan V. Lali, one of 20th century Yugoslavias most crucial poets. Lalis poetry is alive with seeing and feeling the world a world of sun and wind, water and fire. He is also a poet of love a love for his wife Branka that matures like wine over the decades. From adolescence, through young adulthood, to the onset of old age, where We are twin foci of the same ellipse