Rainer Brambach, one of the most widely appreciated Swiss poets in the 1950s and 60s, stood his ground outside of all fashion. Marked by his disregard for material values, a profound engagement with the landscape of the Upper Rhine, and a lasting commitment to humane concerns, his poems are direct, unadorned, free of any pomp or ideology. His quiet and unspectacular images conjure up a landscape, a small rural scene, the interior of a bar or a cafe, and offer a glimpse into a depth of meaning suddenly and briefly opening up to the beholder. Brambach was, above all, an observer whose poems provide insights of deceptive simplicity which nevertheless form a poetic essence confirming the significance of this author s voice."