But already — Web Exclusive
By José-Flore Tappy
Translated by John Taylor
But already
between earth and air
a world is whirling
the scattered grass
strips off all confidence
when the wind rises
before evening
turns us over like an hourglass
José-Flore Tappy is the author of five volumes of poetry. She has won two prestigious Swiss literary awards: the Ramuz Prize for Errer mortelle and the Schiller Prize for Hangars. In John Taylor’s translations her poems have appeared in the Antioch Review, the International Literary Quarterly, Carte Blanche, Trans Lit Magazine, and Asymptote. More are forthcoming in The Bitter Oleander.
John Taylor received a 2011 NEA grant for his project to translate Georges Perros’s Papiers collés and a second grant, from the Sonia Raiziss Charitable Foundation, to translate Louis Calaferte’s Le Sang violet de l’améthyste. He has recently translated books by Philippe Jaccottet (And, Nonetheless, Chelsea), Pierre-Albert Jourdan (The Straw Sandals, Chelsea), and Jacques Dupin (Of Flies and Monkeys, Bitter Oleander Press). Taylor’s most recent collection of personal writings is The Apocalypse Tapestries (Xenos).
Original text: José-Flore Tappy. Errer mortelle. Lausanne: Payot, 1983. Lausanne: Empreintes, 1995 (paperback edition).