Simple Desire

Aleksander Ristović (1933–1994) studied Serbian language and literature and taught elementary and high school for many years in his home town of Cacak. His first book of poems was published in 1959, and he published twenty more, as well as a novel, a dream book, and numerous essays. In 1989 Charioteer Press brought out a selection of his poems, translated into English by Charles Simic, titled Some Other Wine and Light.

Charles Simic (1938–2023) was a poet, essayist, translator, and editor. Born in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, he immigrated to the U.S. in 1954 and began publishing English-language poems in 1959. He received the Pulitzer Prize in poetry, was a MacArthur and Guggenheim Fellow, and served as poet laureate of the United States from 2007 to 2008.