“[Nicole Brossard] is a wholly singular writer, part of a larger movement of Québec Women's writing, part of feminist writing, avant-garde writing, part of lesbian writing, but wholly, unequivocally, herself.”—Sina Queyras

something like wait for me
in the braille of scars
tonight can i suggest a little punctuation
circle half-moon vertical line of astonishment
a pause that transforms
light and breath
into language and threshold of fire

Even as vowels tremble in danger and worldly destruction repeats itself on the horizon, Ardour reminds us that the silence pulsing within us is also a language of connection. In these poems, intimacy with the other is another astonishment—a pleasant gasp, a “pause that transforms light and breath into language and threshold of fire.” Since her first book appeared fifty years ago, Nicole Brossard has left us breathless, expanding our notion of poetry and its possibilities.

Nicole Brossard is a poet, novelist, and essayist who has published more than thirty books since 1965 that have been translated into several languages. She has received two Governor General's Awards for poetry, the Canada Council's Molson Prize, le Prix Athanase-David, and the prestigious Chevalière de l'Ordre National du Québec. She lives in Montreal, Québec.

Angela Carr is a poet and translator. Her most recent book is Here in There. Originally from Montreal, Québec, she currently lives in New York City.

Nicole Brossard

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