Petr Bezruč (1867-1958) was a Czech poet and short story writer who wrote mainly about the region of Silesia. Asymptote have published Červený květ (Red Flower), Kyjov and Horník (The Miner) from his most famous collection, Slezské písně (Silesian Songs), written between 1898-1900.

As Jacob A. Bennett explains in his translator’s note:

…Bezruč writes of the tension between peasants and landlords, the rustics and city folk, “rugged souls” and their “masters” (and their “dainty ladies”). His view is of a landscape that provides for some, but takes from many.

Read the poems in English and Czech here.

More of Bennett’s translations of Bezruč were featured in The Brooklyn Rail’s InTranslation section in May.