I've been enjoying Elsa Cross's work for some years now, thanks to Anamaría Crowe Serrano and Shearsman Books. Here are some favourite passages from this collection:

Like a crab the heat draws its pincers closer.

*

The east wind is heard,

the metal of goat bells,

cicadas:

the incipient polyphony of summer.

from 'Stones'

Movement--

the last vowel

reverberates in the ear.

*

Ah! Metaphors,

those liars.

*

The afternoon is getting drunk

on its endless greenery,

setting its oxygens alight

at summer's end.

*

In enclosed courtyards

the light seems to rise from a hidden well;

desires gleam--

such is the accumulated transparency.

*

The chunks of bread

an old man throws at the water

disappear inside fishes' mouths--

leaving circles that still sparkle

in the evening light.

Then he throws out bait.

The castle,

golden in colour,

becomes a melancholy stain.

*

The sun is going down.

The bay fills with feline trembling.

*

Unintelligible echoes

and in their hollows

the surf of your name.

from 'Waves'

You can purchase Beyond the Sea directly from the publisher here.

#AnamaríaCroweSerrano #ElsaCross #ShearsmanBooks #BeyondtheSea