Pierre Alféri; Natural Gaits

Translated from the French by Cole Swensen

Series No.: SMC 095

ISBN: 1-55713-231-3, Pages: 43

French Literature, Poetry

A Sun & Moon title.

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Pierre Alferi is one of the exciting new breed of French poets who are becoming increasingly popular among younger readers of poetry. Among his books of poetry to date are Natural Gaits, The Familiar Path of the Fighting Fish, and Kub Or. The latter two books of poetry will be published by Sun & Moon Press in upcoming seasons.

Dealing with sequence and movement, Natural Gaits combines the analytical and scientific with an ongoing, almost breathless, poetic voice; the poem reads almost as if a scientist were to recite his most recent analyses by playing a long saxophone riff:

rather than erratic leaps

oscillations; inversion

of the chord (but each

simple insoluble mood

forgets all the others—not their effects

their becoming (except

for that always latent mood

so clear it would leave nothing

in a latent state and would put

an end to oscillation (but

the chord not matched

to its own becoming

resolves nothing.

Alferi constructs a linguistic machine of impacted grammar that drives the poem in absolutely breathtaking directions.