Selected Early Poems

Selected Early Poems spans the years 1963-1983 and includes works from Simic’s first twelve collections.

United States poet laureate & Pulitzer Prize winner, Charles Simic adds a new introduction to the most comprehensive collection of his early poetry from 1963-1983.

Charles Simic was widely recognized as one of the most visceral and unique poets writing today. His work has won numerous awards, among them the 1990 Pulitzer Prize, a MacArthur Foundation “genius grant,” the Griffin International Poetry Prize, the Wallace Stevens Award, and the appointment as US poet laureate. He taught English and creative writing for over 30 years at the University of New Hampshire. Although he emigrated to the US from Yugoslavia as a teenager, Simic writes in English, drawing upon his own experiences of war-torn Belgrade to compose poems about the physical and spiritual poverty of modern life.

He lived in New Hampshire and passed away in January 2023.