Translated from the French by Karina Borowicz and Ben Admussen
Light
reached its hand
into evening’s purse
and pulled out
a star.
Malcolm de Chazal (1902-1981), Mauritian author and painter, is best remembered for his 1947 volume, Sens-Plastique, which contains over two thousand thoughts, aphorisms, and short poetic utterances. The translations presented here are from his later and much smaller collection, Poèmes, published in 1968.
Karina Borowicz is an MFA candidate at the University of New Hampshire. She has published poems in Modern Haiku, Small Spiral Notebook, and Contrary. (6/2007)
Ben Admussen holds a BA in French from Washington University and an MA in Slavic Literature from the University of Kansas. (6/2007)
Malcolm de Chazal (1902–1981) was a Mauritian author and painter, best remembered for his 1947 volume, Sens-Plastique, which contains over two thousand thoughts, aphorisms, and short poetic utterances. The translations presented here are from his later and much smaller collection, Poèmes, published in 1968.
Karina Borowicz has recent work in Bellevue Literary Review, American Letters & Commentary, and The Southern Review. Her translations have appeared in Poetry Daily and her recent poems have been published in Indiana Review, Hanging Loose, Poetry Northwest, and AGNI. Her collection The Bees Are Waiting, which was selected by Franz Wright for the 2011 Marick Press Poetry Prize, won the Eric Hoffer Award for Poetry and was named a Must-Read by the Massachusetts Center for the Book. Her most recent collection, Proof, won the 2014 Codhill Poetry Award. She lives in western Massachusetts. (updated 7/2014)
Borowicz’s debut collection The Bees Are Waiting was reviewed in AGNI Online by Jason Tandon.
Ben Admussen holds a BA in French from Washington University and an MA in Slavic Literature from the University of Kansas. (updated 6/2007)
AGNI has published the following translations:
99 by Malcolm de Chazal
105 by Malcolm de Chazal
156 by Malcolm de Chazal
180 by Malcolm de Chazal