I walk a city within a city like absence with the eyes it has for life no hurry no leisure I walk by empty houses they open onto dreams of streets we shake hands of stone our faces in ruins flee before the walls
Henri Meschonnic (1932-2009) is a key figure of French “new poetics,” best known worldwide for his translations of the Old Testament and his Critique du rythme: Anthropologie historique du langage. His poetry prizes include Max Jacob International Poetry Prize, the Mallarmé Prize, the Jean Arp Francophone Literature Prize, the Guillevic-Ville de Saint-Malo Grand Prize for Poetry, Chevalier de L'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.
Gabriella Bedetti's translations of Meschonic’s essays have appeared in New Literary History and Critical Inquiry. She interviewed him in Diacritics and wrote on his work in New Literary History.
Don Boes's poems offer serious wordplay and deadpan seriousness. He has written three books, Good Luck with That (FutureCycle Press), Railroad Crossing (Finishing Line Press), and The Eighth Continent (Northeastern University Press). The Eighth Continent was selected by award-winning poet A. R. Ammons to receive the Samuel French Morse Poetry Prize.
