Earthly

In a brief introduction to this strong bilingual collection from Follain, who died in 1971, translator Seguin argues that “time is his ultimate subject—how it overlaps and doubles back in memory, how each arriving instant contains past and future, and how sad it is to lose it.” Follain’s poems richly illustrate this attention to time: “Countrysides soak up ancient sun/ although the past/ will never come back the same.” The volume arranges Follain’s tenderly observant and crystalline poems into three sections—two focused on poems from 1933–1953 and 1960–1971, respectively, plus a shorter sequence of prose poems from 1957. Follain’s love for “hear[ing] in the depths of memory/ the creaking of doors in cold rooms/ while poplars rustled on the riverbanks” causes “one’s blood thrill,” a reading experience that is vivid and expansive. Despite the poet’s retrospective gaze and his knowledge that “the next century will be worse,” he provides comfort in moments that recognize that “lovers [still] go by singing.” The result is a lively survey of a writer who feels fresh, even as he speaks to and from history. Devotees of the French pastoral will be especially keen to take a look. (Dec.)