Brane Bitenc - Kri

'The collection of poems Kri, singer and lyricist of the cult Ljubljana New Wave groups Berlinski zid and Otroci socializma, is certainly the bloodiest collection of Slovenian poetry ever written. Brane Bitenc literally bled for his poetry. And not just in a metaphorical sense. No poet of his generation really did as well as he did. Even after thirty-five years, as much as has passed since the first edition of this damn sincere collection of love and rebellion songs that are beautiful, even when they are most cruel and relentless, the blood still seems hot and sticky, like the verses in it. Reading this poetry is at least as dangerous as the life of the poet who wrote and bled to the last word. The reprint of the extended edition, which also includes later poems that he wrote until his end, fulfills the second act of debt we have to this fatal boy of urban Slovenian culture. '

Esad Babačić on the poetry collection Kri, by Brane Bitenc, which was reprinted by Hiša imen.