We were not there by Jordi Doce and translated by Lawrence Schimel

This is poetry from Spain.

We were not there by Jordi Doce translated by Lawrence Schimel is published by Shearsman Books. This is a Book originally written in Spanish. This was published in 2019.0 and has the ISBN of 9.781848616813E12.

We were not there, by Jordi Doce, is a Spanish poetry collection from Spain, translated by Lawrence Schimel, published by Shearsman Books in 2019. It is a Spanish collection by Jordi Doce shaped by absence, witness, and the strange ethics of belatedness. The title is immediately haunting because it raises the question of what poetry can say about events it did not directly inhabit. I would not approach it as a book that needs to be solved or reduced to context before it can begin working. Start with the pressure of the title, the texture of the translated line, and the feeling of a voice making room for itself in English. For this library, the book matters as more than a record of Spain; it is an invitation to let poetry remain particular, difficult, and alive without asking it to behave like explanation.

If you’d like to see international poetry continue and gain traction, consider requesting this work from your local library, or purchasing it from places like Open Books (a poetry only bookstore), Asterism Books (an independent press distributor), or bookshop.org to connect you with your local bookstores.

Check out more of the always in-progress translated poetry index here.