Wasted Blood

Wasted Blood is the continuation of over 100 years of antiwar poetry. From his Slovak roots, Josh Datko, an American veteran, presents fresh, free-verse translations of The Bloody Sonnets from one of Slovakia's most famous poets. Pavol Országh-Hviezdoslav wrote these immediately following the outbreak of The Great War in 1914, when the true horrors of this war were not yet even know.

These poems are provided in the context of Josh's own poetry and prose. Reflecting on the words of ancient poets, which have inspired carvings at national cemeteries, Josh folds the past with the present with an introductory essay and modern poems with a range of styles including haiku, ghazal, blackout, concrete, and free verse.

Since the abolishment of the draft in the United States, antiwar poetry has lost some of its fire. In Wasted Blood, Josh Datko keeps that eternal flame alive.