cover image She Says

She Says

Venus Khoury-Ghata. Graywolf Press, $15 (160pp) ISBN 978-1-55597-383-4

""Living in Lebanon, I wouldn't have written books; I would have had children cooked"" writes Parisian ex-pat Venus Khoury-Ghata as a partial answer to why she writes in French. She Says, translated and introduced by Marilyn Hacker, comprises two poem sequences, ""She Says/ Elle Dit"" and ""Words/ Les Mots,"" presented with French en face, while ""Their voices alone pass through all obstacles.""