Holub is one of the fine Czech poets of the 20th century and also a practicing scientist and clinical pathologist. His poems are generally spare, free-form, and anti-literary. He considered William Carlos Williams a major influence on this work, but while Williams strove for simplicity in his shorter poems, Holub often probes several layers of meaning. Like Williams, though, Holub’s poems frequently deal with the grim realities of life and are written with scientific exactitude.