By Marie-Claire Bancquart
Translated from French by Claire Eder and Marie Moulin-Salles

Eating the apple
I eat enigma
and I glimpse us in the mirror the apple and me
inaccurate and profound.

Something trembles inside us with mouths
of saps and metals.

Long trees
go out from us toward the suburbs of the horizon.

Is it us
at the center?

Or the center of the drift?



Featured Art: Reflection, by John Schriner

Marges

Mangeant la pomme
je mange énigme
et je nous vois dans un miroir la pomme et moi
inexactes et profondes.

On tremble en nous avec des bouches
de sucs et de métaux.

De longs arbres
partent de nous vers les faubourgs de l’horizon.

Est-ce nous
au centre ?

Ou le centre de la dérive ?

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Marie-Claire Bancquart (1932–2019) was a French poet, novelist, and literary critic. She lived in Paris and was a professor emerita of contemporary French literature at the Sorbonne. Author of over 30 collections of poetry and several novels, she was the recipient of numerous prizes, including the Prix Supervielle, the Prix Max Jacob, and the Prix Robert Ganzo. Her work is anthologized in Rituel d’emportement (2002), Toute minute est première (2019), and Terre énergumène et autres poèmes (2019). A colloquium on Bancquart’s poetry was held in Cerisy-la-Salle in 2011 and was subsequently published by éditions Peter Lang, with the title Dans le feuilletage de la terre.

Claire Eder’s translations have recently appeared in Interim, ANMLY, Rhino Poetry, and Azonal, among other publications. She holds an MFA from the University of Florida and a PhD from Ohio University. She lives in Lexington, Kentucky. Find her online at claireeder.com.

Marie Moulin-Salles is a French teacher and translator with 30 years’ experience. She leads individual and group French classes for children and adults. She holds a Masters degree from Caen University, France, and an advanced Spanish degree from the University of Salamanca, Spain. Her translation work includes business documents, literary texts, simultaneous interpretation in the courtroom, voiceover projects, and live French narration with musical performance. She can be reached at mariesalles1@gmail.com