Introduction

. . . Niels Hav's We Are Here, aptly translated into English by Patrick Friesen and P.K. Brask, brings to us a selection from the works of one of Denmark's most talented living poets and is all the more welcome for that reason . . .

As exemplified in We Are Here, Hav's poetry is characterized by an economy of expression, disarmingly straightforward language, gentle humor, irony — which is often self-directed — arresting imagery, and a subdued but persistent undertone of existential angst . . .

Niels Hav's We Are Here touches all facets of what it means to be a sentient human being in an imperfect and impermanent world. Readers will find much that is familiar to them in this collection but will experience the familiar through a different lens, one that can help put the world into a fresher and, possibly, more lucid perspective. . . .

— Frank Hugus, The Literary Review


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