To France and Back: New Circuits in American Poetry

This essay shows that translation has redefined the parameters of poetry in the United States through a case study of two works by the contemporary poets Andrew Zawacki and Bill Luoma. Both responded to the French translation of their poems with a revised or new work in English; whereas Zawacki takes advantage of this new pattern of circulation to enrich and embellish his poem, Luoma documents its obstacles and setbacks. In both cases, these works take up and re-examine the problems and challenges posed by translation. They also signal a new kind of poetry that directly engages with the foreign scene of its circulation.