In 1995 Håkan Sandell published Om Retrogardismen (On Retrogardism), a book which argued that poetry had become too insular and contemptuous of its own medium to communicate meaningfully with
the public. The remedy Sandell proposed was a return to techniques and genres that modernism had rejected or neglected. This interest in salvaging what is valuable of the past accounts for much
of the controversy that has surrounded Sandell’s work in Swedish literary circles today. But anyone who dubs himself a Retrogardist is being as much playful as provocative. There is nothing
stuffy or curatorial about Sandell’s poetry. There’s a stylistic generosity and openness in his work, where everyday and vatic diction, high and popular culture, modern and ancient
technologies, jostle amicably. There’s a generosity of spirit, too: even the saddest and angriest of his poems tend toward praise. Love, death, God, evil, and poetry are all approached with a
invigorating freshness and lack of apology. Dog Star Notations is a collection of communications addressed to both the head and heart of the reader.
