Lead Blues

Marguerite Andersen is a professor of French studies at the University
of Guelph.

In Quebec, Alonzo is a well-known poet, writer, critic, and publisher
(les éditions Trois). Lead Blues is the first translation into English
of any of her work.

Lead Blues is a slim volume comprising 32 pages of poetry, which can be
read either as one long poem or with as many interruptions as the reader
desires. Indeed, Alonzo’s poetic text may leave the reader of
traditional poetry quite breathless. Reading her work is like entering
another country, another mind, another form. As William Donoghue, her
translator, remarks, “A certain letting go is required.” Lead Blues
demands that the reader listen to the verse—which isn’t really
verse—and travel with the poet. It makes for an excellent trip.

Donoghue has prefaced Lead Blues with a very fine essay on Alonzo,
followed by an equally fine and witty essay on the art of translation.
He obviously translates with passion.