Kraj/ky Pagu

Radek Štěpánek

In his previous collection Soudný potok the poet paid homage to South Bohemian ponds and fish. He has now substituted fresh water for salt water and South Bohemia for the Croatian island of Pag. Although this is no guide book, as soon as you read the verses you might feel like travelling and experiencing salt water in your hair and mind.

Radek Štěpánek (born 1986) is a poet, editor, and fisherman. He studied Media Studies and Journalism at Masaryk University in Brno and later completed a master’s degree in Environmental Humanities at the same institution. He is regarded as a central figure in contemporary Czech environmental poetry.

Cardiac output is the basic metric of blood flow performance – it describes the volume of blood being pumped by the heart, in particular by the left or right ventricle, per unit time. The figurative sense is needless to explain. It can only be added that the time unit is one human life.

The Cardiac Output series published fourteen titles of contemporary Czech poetry in collaboration with Masaryk University Press by the end of 2013. Vladimír Šrámek served as editor, and Leoš Knotek was responsible for the layout design. A number of poets, mainly based in Brno, were involved in the editorial work. In 2013, Cardiac Output was transformed into a voluntary group with the aim of reviving publishing activities as well as other cultural initiatives.