Romans-fleuves

Pierre Nepveu, a leading poet and man of letters, steps out of the “vast cloud of unmeaning” that hangs over so much poetry from Quebec and sees, in “the streetlamps at three o’clock”, small truths of life “disarmed by a single white flower dogwood.” It is a disciplined vision, under “dread of avalanche.” This is the first selection of his verse in English. Nepveu was the recipient of the Governor General’s Award for Romans-fleuves in 1997. Translated from the French by Donald Winkler.