I’m from nowhere when the sky pulls back, from no forest, no city, like a woman sitting in her woman’s littleness seeking her face through a shrouded window. There, in the memory of my death, the exact instant when breathing left me, I rock back and forth soundlessly, surprised to find myself whole again in the willingness of the world, to be offering my name to the scorching sun. For it is still light out even if the day has ended and I’m standing here by the flowers on the graves keeping watch. I’m keeping watch over myself, at peace, among so many other souls who were not able to endure.
is a poet, literary translator, and professor emerita of French at the University of Oregon. Her poetry and translations have ap- peared in literary journals including Beloit Poetry Journal, Descant, Cider Press Review, Zoland Poetry, and Potomac Review. She is the author of two books of poetry: SkeinofLight (Airlie Press, 2014) and SketchingElise (Finishing Line, 2012). She has also published two scholarly monographs and a book-length translation of Louise Warren’s DelftBlueandObjectsoftheWorld (Guernica Editions, 2013). She is currently completing a translation of Louise Dupré’s Tout près (Éd. du Noroît, 1998).
is the author of twelve volumes of poetry, including Toutprès (1998), Plus haut que les flammes (2010), and La main hantée (2016), all from Editions du Noroît. She is the author of two novels, two plays, a collection of short stories, a memoir, and a volume of critical essays. She’s received the Governor General’s Award for Poetry twice, in 2011 for Plus haut que les flammes and in 2017 for La main hantée. Dupré’s work has been widely translated; both of her novels and her collected short stories are available in English translation. In addition, Guernica Editions published an anthology of her poetry, and her play Tout comme elle (2006) has been staged both in French and in English.
