Dubbed "a Columbus of new poetic continents" because of his search for a poetics as diverse as the universe itself, Velimir Khlebnikov is the creator of some of the most extraordinary poems in the Russian language. Sometimes surreal, sometimes esoteric, but always dazzlingly innovative, the 192 poems in this volume range broadly from the lyrical to the epic.

One of the founders of Russian Futurism, Khlebnikov spent his entire brief life searching for a new poetic language to express his convictions about the rhythm of history and the connection between the truth of a poet's language and the cosmic truth about the universe. His poetry is characterized by often radical experimentation with language and words, a forceful utopian vision, complex theories of time and history, and multiple poetic personae: from an infantry commander to a Carthaginian war hero, from Cleopatra's paramour to the letters of the alphabet. Completing the Collected Works of Velimir Khlebnikov, Selected Poems gives us insight into the imagination of a remarkable artist.

Paul Schmidt is the winner of the Max Hayward Prize for his translation of Velimir Khlebnikov, The King of Time: Selected Writings of the Russian Futurian (Harvard).

Ronald Vroon is Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures at UCLA.

Read More by Velimir Khlebnikov:

• Collected Works of Velimir Khlebnikov, Volume I, Letters and Theoretical Writings
• Collected Works of Velimir Khlebnikov, Volume II, Prose, Plays, and Supersagas
• The King of Time: Selected Writings of the Russian Futurian

Read More by Paul Schmidt:

• The King of Time: Selected Writings of the Russian Futurian
• Collected Works of Velimir Khlebnikov, Volume I, Letters and Theoretical Writings
• Collected Works of Velimir Khlebnikov, Volume II, Prose, Plays, and Supersagas

Read More by Ronald Vroon:

• Collected Works of Velimir Khlebnikov, Volume II, Prose, Plays, and Supersagas