Size / / /

Have no regret.

Before you turned I'd fled, my back to yours,
Along that path of bone and cinder and, ignis fatuus,
Winked out of sight.

Drawn in the draught of your desire
I'd followed dumb, as sparks fly skyward,
Ignorant of night—

Till sense began to swarm in me,
Each step reared up mountainous,
And limbs, lagged with flesh, felt sudden weight.

A dreamer gasps from drowning, wakes to panic—
So the unspooled hours wound tight
Again about my throat,

My veins, embalmed in Lethe's water, seeped with blood,
Eyes recongealed their jelly—
Monstrous transformation!

Thus I saw you pace before, more shade than man,
Cradling that dearer-than-a-child
With which you'd plucked me, quickened, quivering,

Ever your reverberant
Second string.




Catherine Butler is the author of six children's/YA novels, including The Fetch of Mardy Watt and Death of a Ghost. She is also Associate Professor of English at the University of the West of England and has written numerous critical books, including the Mythopoeic Award-winning Four British Fantasists and Reading History in Children's Books. She is the editor of Philip Pullman: A New Casebook and Twisted Winter.
Current Issue
22 Apr 2024

We’d been on holiday at the Shoon Sea only three days when the incident occurred. Dr. Gar had been staying there a few months for medical research and had urged me and my friend Shooshooey to visit.
...
Tu enfiles longuement la chemise des murs,/ tout comme d’autres le font avec la chemise de la mort.
The little monster was not born like a human child, yelling with cold and terror as he left his mother’s womb. He had come to life little by little, on the high, three-legged bench. When his eyes had opened, they met the eyes of the broad-shouldered sculptor, watching them tenderly.
Le petit monstre n’était pas né comme un enfant des hommes, criant de froid et de terreur au sortir du ventre maternel. Il avait pris vie peu à peu, sur la haute selle à trois pieds, et quand ses yeux s’étaient ouverts, ils avaient rencontré ceux du sculpteur aux larges épaules, qui le regardaient tendrement.
We're delighted to welcome Nat Paterson to the blog, to tell us more about his translation of Léopold Chauveau's story 'The Little Monster'/ 'Le Petit Monstre', which appears in our April 2024 issue.
For a long time now you’ve put on the shirt of the walls,/just as others might put on a shroud.
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