Unfinished Ode to Mud by Francis Ponge

by Francis Ponge

Shortlisted for the 2009 Popescu Prize for European poetry in translation A bilingual French/English edition of new translations of prose poems by a writer praised by Italo Calvino as a peerless master . . . I believe that he may be the Lucretius of our time, reconstructing the physical nature of the world by means of the impalpable, powderfine dust of words- Six Memos for the Next Millennium. Still radical, the poems of Francis Ponge seek to give the things of the world their due. Impatient with the usual baggage of literary description, Ponge attends to a pebble, a washpot, an eiderdown, a platter of fish, with lyrical precision; playing with sounds, rhythms and associations of words, he creates wholly new objects but which may be more touching, if possible, than natural objects, because human ( My Creative Method ).

Genres: Poetry

Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Francis Jean Gaston Alfred Ponge was a French essayist and poet. Influenced by surrealism, he developed a form of prose poem, minutely examining everyday objects.

Reviews

[Tosh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Francis Ponge is one of those unique writers that is a must for anyone who puts pen onto paper or types letters on a computer screen. A writer's writer as well as a Poet's poet. Ponge can look at his subject matter, for instance, "Pebble" and dwell deeply into that small stone. It's a universe within its own planet or world. His method is 'descriptive' and not really about ideas. The description itself is the idea. As a writer, there is a need for me to read his little prose/poetic pieces to better myself with the language and how to express what I want to say as a fellow scribbler.