3/29: je pique!

Last year I came across "The Prayer of the Goldfish," an amazing poem by Carmen Bernos de Gasztold, originally written in French. Upon recently remembering that it had been about a year since I discovered it, I decided to order one of her books so I could read more of her work. A translation of Prayers from the Ark and The Creatures' Choir arrived today. It was not a purchase I'll regret!

The first poem I opened to was "The Hedgehog," from The Creatures' Choir. This was a happy thing, since hedgehogs make me smile, and especially hedgehogs in literature. The opening line of the poem reads: "Yes, Lord, I prick!" Fantastic. And even more perfect in the original French: Oui, Seigneur, je pique!

4 comments:

Rados said...

I found today an interesting site: www.omegle.com where you can write with random person from all over the world. Good for someone, who want to learn English :)

RR said...

Thanks for the cool site info, Rados, and thanks for stopping by!

Barbara said...

Oh, Rebecca -- This dates me, but I remember the Prayers form the Ark back in the 1960s when I was in college. It was really making the rounds about that time - am I thinking of the same book? The others I've not heard of. I don't recall the French connection so maybe I'm thinking of something different or just was never aware of the original language.

RR said...

It must be the same Prayers of the Ark, Barbara. I think the English translation was first published in the 1960s. The translation of The Creatures' Choir was published a little later, and I got a used book from the 70s that combines the two texts in one volume.