In 1995 Hkan 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. But anyone who dubs himself a Retrogardist is being as much playful as provocative. Dog Star Notations is a collection of communications addressed to both the head and heart of the reader.