Wordspinning

Anne Hébert Part 2

After discussing Anne Hébert in class today I feel a little less stupid. Two things mentioned made me feel better:

1. She was closely tied in with the surrealist movement. So I was trying to read things literarly while she was planting severed hands in her garden.

2. She was very influenced by visual art; Reading the poems with the idea that she was describing a painting made things less frustrating.

I love this one.

Minor Despair
The river's reclaimed the islands I loved
The keys of silence are lost
The hollyhock's not as sweet as I thought
The water has more secrets than it sings

My heart collapses
The moment no longer supports it.

Petit Désespoir
La rivière a repris les iles que j'aimais
Les clefs du silence sont perdues
La rose trémière n'a pas tant d'odeur qu'on croyait
L'eau autant de secrets qu'elle le chante

Mon coeur est rompu
L'instant ne le porte plus.

Here were some other things that came up in class:

Images that kept coming back - death, the sea, shells, bones, birds, hands
The idea of containment.

posted by Kiara at 8:16 PM