The foreword argues that Brecht was "the perhaps most original and important German poet of his time". Even considering the time he worked in, I find that hard to believe. What he does do well is dark satire ("Legend of the dead soldier"), prescient political commentary ("Germany, 1938"; "How we learn to say yes to the world") and, in general, his poems feel like song lyrics in need of a Weill or monologues in need of a play. That's not to say they're bad (they're not) or that they have lost all their sting 100 years later (they haven't).