Walking the Black Cat

Charles Simic (1938–2023) was born in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, and emigrated to the United States in 1954. He is recognized as one of the most distinctive voices in American poetry, known for surrealist imagery rooted in the violence of history and the strangeness of ordinary life. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1990 for The World Doesn't End (Harcourt Brace, 1989). He served as Poet Laureate of the United States from 2007 to 2008. His many collections include Hotel Insomnia (1992) and The Voice at 3:00 A.M. (2003). He was a professor of American literature and creative writing at the University of New Hampshire for several decades and received a MacArthur Fellowship.