She Says: Bilingual Edition

by Vénus Khoury-Ghata, Marilyn Hacker (Translator)

Award-winning American poet Marilyn Hacker offers the brilliance of Lebanese poet Vénus Khoury-Ghata in an exquisite translation

She says
the earth is so vast one can't help but be lost like water from a broken jug
There is no fortress against the wind
the winter wanderer must count on the compassion of walls-from "She Says"

Translated by celebrated American poet Marilyn Hacker, Vénus Khoury-Ghata's She Says explores the mythic and confessional attractions and repulsions of the French and Arabic imaginations with poems that open like "a suitcase filled with alphabets." Sex, barrenness, grief, and death-the backdrop of a war-ravaged country-are always at the edges, made increasingly urgent by lines often jagged and spare, their music unhaltered. Khoury-Ghata is a vital voice in both her native and adopted languages and we are pleased to present this important collection in English.

Genres: Poetry, France

160 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2003

About the author

Vénus Khoury-Ghata is a Lebanese poet and novelist, resident in France since 1973. Her work has been translated into Arabic, Dutch, German, Italian and Russian, and she was named a Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur in 2000.

Reviews

[Edita · Rating 5 out of 5]

She says
migrating birds won’t replace the road
and it’s not breadcrumbs that will throw the swallows off track

Early this morning
she announced to the larch that her cherry tree had borne its first fruit
It repeated this to the other larches who spread the news through the
forest
a forest strong in its privileges which never returns the winds it’s been
lent
it turns them into howls beneath the trees’ bark
and into gallops among the branches
into echoes which lean on the mountain to throw themselves on her
cherry tree

To leave with a tree under your arm is hazardous
a stream draws a closed circle around her house
once stepped across the water turns like bad milk

[Kirsten · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the first section, Words, quite a bit. Such interesting thoughts about language. The main section, She Says, eluded me. I thought individual phrases were lovely or striking, and overall enjoyed how the language flowed, but I don't think I understood a bit of it. Does that matter? Not always.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

After a long time away, I'm finally returning to poetry. I remembered loving Khoury-Ghata, so I jumped right in, which was both a good and bad idea. It was a bad idea because her poems aren't the easiest to parse for a beginner; they can feel a bit difficult to get. But it was a really good idea because it helped me to practice letting go of expectations and basking in language--and oh, what language here!

What I love most about Khoury-Ghata's work:
* Her recurring themes
* Her rich, jewel-like imagery
* Her anthropomorphism of nature

[Hesper · Rating 2 out of 5]

The French cuisine of poetry, this: high on technique, low on flavor.