THE POEMS
You fell asleep on the tiles,
a translucent peacock loomed,
your sex opened and let out
a very blue, very high flame.
You wore a split veil, that morning.
Silent, nailed to her chair, the seated woman writes. She cracks. The poems fidget, slip their fingers: they seek to enter. Perched on her shoulder, the poems whisper in her ear. She captures their messages: “I love the sacred contortions you offer me.” The poems protest: “You're squeezing us too hard: careful, pet.”
More than descriptors, the words behave as commands or moves in a game—and the voice of the seated woman rises to play.
THE POEMS
You fell asleep on the tiles,
a translucent peacock loomed,
your sex opened and let out
a very blue, very high flame.
You wore a split veil, that morning.
Silent, nailed to her chair, the seated woman writes. She cracks. The poems fidget, slip their fingers: they seek to enter. Perched on her shoulder, the poems whisper in her ear. She captures their messages: “I love the sacred contortions you offer me.” The poems protest: “You're squeezing us too hard: careful, pet.”
More than descriptors, the words behave as commands or moves in a game—and the voice of the seated woman rises to play.
| Published By | House of Anansi Press Inc — Mar 25, 2025 |
| Specifications | 72 pages | 5.75 in x 8 in |
| Keywords | Translation; Poetry Translation; Erín Moure; Arachnide; French Canadian; Dayne Ogilvie Prize; Scenes From the Underground; Les Herbs Rouges; Theophylline; Chantal Neveu; Poetry Bash; Poetry; French Poetry; Poetry in Translation; Khashayar Mohammadi; Kess Mohammadi; E.S Taillon; Klara Du Plessis; |
| Written By |
CLÉMENCE DUMAS-CÔTÉ was born in Montreal in 1986. She studied acting at the National Theatre School of Canada and holds a master's degree in creative writing. She is the author of two poetry books, L'alphabet du don (2017) and La femme assise (2019), and the novel Glu (2022). |
| Written By |
|
CLÉMENCE DUMAS-CÔTÉ was born in Montreal in 1986. She studied acting at the National Theatre School of Canada and holds a master's degree in creative writing. She is the author of two poetry books, L'alphabet du don (2017) and La femme assise (2019), and the novel Glu (2022). |
"E.S. Taillon beautifully shapes Clémence Dumas-Côté’s duel in English, creating a luminous, sharp-tender, glad réplique that lets poet stand up to poetry." —Erín Moure, author of Theophylline: an a-poretic migration via the modernisms of Rukeyser, Bishop, Grimké
"A conversation, an antiphony, a tug of war, a dance, in which the beauty of the French surfaces through the equal beauty of the English." —Rhonda Mullins, translator of Pale Shadows and Sing, Nightingale
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