Complex, haunting, and profoundly literary, Didactic Poetries is French poet Philippe Beck’s response to Schiller’s statement: “We are still waiting for a didactic poem where thought itself would be and would remain poetic.” In recognition of his entire oeuvre, Beck was awarded the French Academy’s Grand Prix de Poésie [Grand Poetry Prize] in 2015. We present two poems from his debut publication in English, released by Univocal Publishing today.
Liminal Poem
If an I does not begin,
it is because of the sum
of strong concerns
that make and unmake
someone’s history
in the history of some ones
in the history of many
and not in everyone’s.
For a someone differs
in the sum of possible exchanges
with everyone
(the big I is also
theoretically absent, and
the ordinary you and I
strive to become a You
before the imagined arrival
of the big I
that does not exist);
discussions begin
because of discussions.
What must be said
is not already spoken
in the individual’s brain,
nor in the Collective,
but it is said
because of the conversation
which creates necessity
all around brains
and hearts.
And the world is not everyone’s
negative rough draft.
Twice Verlaine
That there is food
and drink at the home of
the importer of the Odd
friend of the lame Even,
shocks only if
authority no longer incites
going beyond
astonishment
at the new thrill
in other words look for why
the ear sees better
this, that,
by inventing exhaustible
answers.
His nothing to say
also creates the workshop
of actual literature.
This actuality
I can describe.
Actualitas.
The Distracted by news,
with actualities,
deep-down is rarely
affected by them.
News junkie.
The Non Distracted
has, likewise,
a taste for strong sensation.
He is taken back.
Under the sun,
dust in the arena,
glues the eyes
to the ground,
and bothersome
darkness
raises his head
towards a lamp.
Space
creates grammar.
(And in itself
creates is said
in space.)
translated from the French by Nicola Marae Allain
Click here for more information about the book.
Philippe Beck is a poet and a professor of philosophy at the University of Nantes. He has published over 15 volumes of poetry as well as a number of theoretical works including, most recently, Contre un Boileau: Un art poétique (Fayard, 2015). Beck was awarded the French Academy’s Grand Prix de Poésie [Grand Poetry Prize] for his body of works in 2015.
Nicola Marae Allain is an associate professor in Arts & Cultural Studies at Empire State College, State University of New York.
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