Do the Monkey

by Norma Cole

So we arrive at a consideration of death, time, the body, signification and patriotism, guided light-heatedly by one who has been there and back. ÒBefore the mind catches up/the bodyÕs been and goneÓ serves as the epigraph of the book and is part of ÒTHE BODY IS SOFT.Ó We are reminded by this passage of how life actually works, as well as of how we think and speak about it. For the reader, in each reading, the book becomes that moment when things and language fall together with oneself. It is a great dance.---Laura Moriarty

52 pages, Paperback

First published September 19, 2006

About the author

Norma Cole is a poet, painter, and translator. Her most recent books of poetry include Fate News, Actualities, Where Shadows Will, and Win These Posters and Other Unrelated Prizes Inside. Her translations from French include Danielle Collobert’s It Then, the anthology Crosscut Universe: Writing on Writing from France, and Jean Daive’s White Decimal. Cole lives and works in San Francisco.