NEW HOPE INTERNATIONAL REVIEW

IN LOVE'S SHADOW is a short bilingual collection by Canadian poet Jay Black with translation into French by Sandra Chiancone. As the title suggests the poetry here is dark love poetry, being quite gothic in parts, as in this extract from WILDWOOD DARK:

	Thus with insatiate thirst we supped
	from one another's gaping cuts,
	then kissed with lips that dripped
	our bittersweet commingled blood.

	You are fallen yellow leaves
	carried on quiet streams of tears

	You are an evening breeze
	whispering disconsolate dreams.

	You are the ebbing ocean
	washing over a naked beach

	.... your dreams skirt my ears
	as telepathic whispers, pensive hints,
	and breathy restless secrets.

	Wild ivy coils tightly round
	the cold, high-paled fence

Some readers may find the language sometimes overly archaic or obscure, with the use of words such as 'presaged' or 'tenebrous' but such language fits the style and mood of the writing. The French translations seem fairly faithful to the original, though sometimes the different structure of the languages means that words fall differently in the translation compared to the original. It is a comment on the languages too, rather than on the poets' skills, to say that sometimes these poems sound more beautiful in French. It is important, I think, that in bilingual cultures, such as Canada where this book is published, books are available in bilingual versions, so that both languages can be read and appreciated together and valued equally.