The Last Believer in Words is the first of three retrospective anthologies to honor work from the pages of Poetry East; the next two volumes, to appear in 1999 and 2000, will be devoted to poetics and contemporary American poetry.

The Last Believer in Words
In this book we find the poems of old friends—
translations selected from two decades of Poetry East.
Collectively, these voices speak for an art
that honors the anguish and beauty of being,
in spite of a century that would silence
the last believer in words. Gathering these poets
from around the world together in one volume
feels not only like a celebration of poetry,
but an affirmation of the human spirit.

— Richard Jones 
Poetry East, 1998