Tobias Berggren was born in 1940 and published his first book of poetry, Det nödvändiga är inte klart (The necessary is not clear), in 1969. In the ensuing years he has published many works of poetry as well as political documents, and he enjoys a reputation as one of Sweden’s leading contemporary modernist poets. The suite presented, taken from his 1997 collection Fält och legender (Fields and legends), is unusual in Berggren’s work in dealing directly with Jewish themes.