Description
Book SynopsisIn her follow-up to the critically-acclaimed Cold Spring in Winter, Valérie Rouzeau presents a language that is a hybrid of liberty and constraint. There are omissions and contractions, colloquialisms and archaisms, alongside wordplay, child-speak, exploded cliché, and a heightened awareness of the poetic tradition.
Also available in limited-edition hardback: ISBN 9781908376176 (£12.99)
Valérie Rouzeau was born in 1967 in Burgundy. Her most recent collection, Cold Spring in Winter (Arc, 2009; ISBN 9781904614593), was shortlisted for the 2010 Griffin Prize, the world's largest poetry prize. She lives in Saint-Ouen, near Paris.
Susan Wicks also translated Cold Spring in Winter. She is the author of three Faber and three Bloodaxe poetry collections, most recently House of Tongues (Bloodaxe, 2011; ISBN 9781852249069), and has been shortlisted for the TS Eliot and Forward Prizes. She lives in Tunbridge Wells.
This title is also available from Amazon as an eBook.
Table of ContentsTranslator's Preface /6, PART 1: Poems from 'When I am Too' / 10 Eden, Two, Three and churned-up me/12, The wardrobe's bare/14, Trr/16, Not keeping my nose clean/21, Our friendship in driving rain/24, Tenuous/26, The friend who can't hear Purcell any more /28, Rehearsal/30, 25 December /32, 01 43 15 50 67 /34, Carpe Diem /36, 18 Lines to What /38, Vain Poem /40, The Poem for Jacques /42, Objection: Poeme d'Amour for 2 Voices /45, Thirty-two Teeth /48, Cross my heart /50, Gue Digue Don /54, And I was wondering what bird /58, I must have dreamed it /60, PART II Poems from 'Vrouz' /61, Good for this or nothing /63, And if by chance my hand /63, Airport my green boots /65, I dreamed I lied about my bust-size /67, What time is it I'm happy there's a tree /67, So many swallowed days and so much time /69, Us eaters of potaters /69, To meet your soulmate without paying afterwards /71, Today sixteenth of June two thousand and eleven /71, My artificial memory? I couldn't give a toss /73, The hands of young mothers smell of cod liver oil /73, I measured my length the other day in snow /75, Negative I don't know how to take a photo no /75, She's a stranger here she puts her earring in /77, Swallow anything like nails or wood-screws ink /77, I get the picture now I'm at the age /79, At a certain moment you trip over it /79, MOzart I had to write /81, Nothing's rightful owner /83, The kid limps after his dad who's walking fast /83, Horsewoman found hanged with leading rein /85, Phone ringing in a waste-bin /85, Let's tmae our loneliness without a wire /87, I'll come and visit you my unkown friends /87, When I levae my room a hefty curse rings out /89, I'd like to drive a Coral train right to the sea /89, Down the whole track-length of the railway line /91, Birthday this fine day and look /91, Driving his express logistic truck /93, I must lose fourteen punds at least /93, Sometimes ex-planed un-trained gone bussed we don't arrive /95, To stay in while looking out /95, Another train packed out with soldiers' arses /97, There's a big black empty vase of rainwater which waits /97, A tree a growing tree and not a stone /99, My plane has been diluted /99, Not far from really understanding /101, Another truck with fill up on your phone /101, When my father shuffled off this mortal coil /103, I'm asked to put down my expenses in a note /103, They bring their teacher nuts /105, At the big Bazar de l'Hotel de Ville the BHV /105, His little head reflected in the great big spoon /107, Something joyful in this boy is pedalling /107, So I's the host of who know who or what /109, The boy give back the mango at the till to dear /109, I was running in no hurry as I waited hoping for the tram /111, A great fat budgie-squawk as if on spitting up /111, When I'd fill up the fridge with cans of drink /113, On public transport that transport us most /113, Won't write a word today /115, The twentieth of March the equinox and nothing gives /115, No I'm not back with all of you I've come that's all /117, Asters or asterisks as what shall I recycle /117, Each day these perfect strangers cross my path /119, Before you leave the train make sure /119
