Nicole Brossard

Posted in Past Guests  |  Tagged A–F

French Canadian formalist poet and novelist Nicole Brossard was born in 1943 in Montreal. She has published over 30 works of poetry and fiction, including Notebook of Roses and Civilization and Installations, as well as pieces she edited. Brossard founded the publishing house L’Intégrale éditrice in 1982. She attended the Université de Montréal and has received numerous awards, among them, the Prix Athanase-David and two awards from the Governor General. Nicole Brossard is a member of the Canadian national order.

Smooth Horizon of the Verb Love

     1

an urban image from the eighties
when we hung out at Chez Madam Arthur
and at the back of the room
women wrapped their arms around
nights of ink and dawn

     2

calendar of murmurs
vague caresses about the planet and its water
we could have confused words
but there were doors open
confetti in the midst of darkness
gentle ways
to swoon in a corner with she who
put her tongue in my mouth

     3

focus on yes, on the woman’s
eyelids
caress not silence not word
focus beyond. Hold me back

Links

• Interview with Mary Meriam. Ms.. 12 March 2013.
• Review of Selections by John Findura. Jacket magazine. Late 2010.
• “Revising Nicole Brossard: An Introduction” by Jodi Lundgren and Kelly-Anne Maddox. HOW2. Spring 2005.

Media

Reading with Carolyn Forché and Joan Retallack | February 15, 2000