Beginning to Speak by Diana Anphimiadi

Scrambled thoughts become crow-songs perched on a wire. Famous women from Greek myth speak frankly - upside-down, headless, from beyond the grave. The five senses tussle on the page, among cats and fish and chandeliers. Eating and bathing offer a glimpse of the eternal. In Beginning to Speak, Georgian poet Diana Anphimiadi repeatedly makes the world unfamiliar with the flick of a pen, demonstrating why she is one of her country’s outstanding contemporary poets. The poems in this selection have been translated into English by the award-winning British poet Jean Sprackland (Tilt, Sleeping Keys) together with leading Georgian translator Natalia Bukia-Peters.