cho’s Grove comprises a wide range of poems, ancient and modern, translated or ‘adapted’ from their languages of origin. Many have appeared in previous publications by Derek Mahon, Adaptations (2006) and Raw Material (2011) — to which are now added, among others, new poems based on Ovid, Corbière, Laforgue and ‘Gopal Singh’, the author’s own invention. The Propertius, T’ang, trobairitz and Nerval sequences are here, together with ‘The Seaside Cemetery’, a much admired version of Valéry’s ‘Le Cimetière marin’; and choruses from the plays.These versions take many liberties in the hope that they will read almost like original poems in English, allowing their sources to remain audible.
