Image of Absence

Poetry. Latinx Studies. Women’s Studies. Translated from the Spanish by Curtis Bauer. Winner of the International Latino Book Award. Lyrical, leaping, mysterious, rigorous, and deft, the poems of Mexican poet Jeannette L. Clariond defy easy analysis. Says Rebecca Gayle Howell, In IMAGE OF ABSENCE, Jeannette L. Clariond-the laureate of Mexico’s soul-takes H.D.‘s hand and dives head first into the self-same sea which gave us Trilogy, that sea of treacherous silence wherein God’s name lives. With the courage only a mystic dares, Clariond breathes this water into her lungs so she might utter body, its absence; history, her absence; love, her ever-was, speaking sound into silence until it all becomes air. Of course, only the intrepid Curtis Bauer would be the one ready to travel with Clariond into this deep. We needed this book revealed to English; in this time of overwhelming American fear, I needed my chance to share in this uncommon prayer. Translator Curtis Bauer faced (in his own words) the seemingly impossible task of how to translate absence, as well as the many sensations absence imprints upon one’s body and psyche, and succeed he did.