by BK Munn
 Montreal publisher L’Oie de Cravan announced today it would be publishing its second collection of poetry by Geneviève Elverum (Geneviève Castrée). The 140-page book is titled Maman Apprivoisée (translation: Tamed Mother), and is a sequel of sorts to her first collection, Maman Sauvage (Wild Mother). The poems were written during the author’s illness, before her death from pancreatic cancer in 2016, and are a reflection on the joys and pains of motherhood. In French with English translations of each poem, Maman Apprivoisée launches May 23 in Montreal.
ATTENTAT
J’ai oublié de dire
qu’au matin de mon accouchement
on avait avec nous
le New York Times
du dimanche d’avant.
En couverture
les bureaux
pleins d’empreintes ensanglantées
de Charlie Hebdo
presque deux semaines plus tôt.
L’image m’est revenue
pendant les vingt-sept heures
qui ont suivi.
J’ai lu quelque part
que donner naissance
c’est se rapprocher de la mort.
ATTACK
I forgot to say
that the morning of my delivery
we had with us
the New York Times
from the Sunday before.
On the front page
the offices
full of bloody footprints
of Charlie Hebdo
almost two weeks ago.
The picture came back to me
during the twenty-seven hours
that followed.
I read somewhere
to give birth
is to move closer to death.  

photo: Phil Elverum