This poem is taken from PN Review 288, Volume 52 Number 4, March - April 2026.
Set 14: Mondo de Agrabla Loko por Esti
(World of a Nice Place to Be)
TRANSLATED BY JOHN GALLAS
1
Bresse-country
Gabriel Vicaire (1848–1900)/at a window/Bresse/France
Nice country, this. And I mean nice:
flat, still, plain: my sort of place.
One big spread of greenery and trees
with here and there a little spire and bells
softly singing in the swimmy mist.
The Saône shines mildly in the morning light,
peaceful at its business down below.
Sometimes a cow comes wandering along
out of the quiet grass, its milky horns
moving faintly through the far off sky.
Nearby I can see a dear old crone,
her sheep awander, bent down at her mending,
someone’s smock or pants, and counting stitches
...
1
Bresse-country
Gabriel Vicaire (1848–1900)/at a window/Bresse/France
Nice country, this. And I mean nice:
flat, still, plain: my sort of place.
One big spread of greenery and trees
with here and there a little spire and bells
softly singing in the swimmy mist.
The Saône shines mildly in the morning light,
peaceful at its business down below.
Sometimes a cow comes wandering along
out of the quiet grass, its milky horns
moving faintly through the far off sky.
Nearby I can see a dear old crone,
her sheep awander, bent down at her mending,
someone’s smock or pants, and counting stitches
...
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