For half a century Oktay Rifat occupied a leading position in the vanguard of Turkish poetry. Despite his popularity and fame he rarely appeared in public, preferring the private life of an ordinary family man and content to work as an attorney while continuing to write. This generous selection exemplifies Rifat's insistence that 'poetry must be read and must be readable.' It draws on all phases of his work, from the early iconclasm and later neo-surrealism to the mature period in which innovation blends with folk traditions, creating poetry rich in feeling and thought.