The Yale Anthology of Twentieth-Century French Poetry

Radovan Ivsic 1921–

zagreb, croatia

T

he writings of Ivsic, a poet and playwright, were banned in Croatia not

only by the Nazis during the Occupation but also by the postwar

Croatian government. In 1954 Ivsic moved to Paris and joined the

Surrealist movement. He collaborated on Surrealist exhibitions and on the re-

views BIEF, La Brèche, and L’Archibras. His poems began to appear in print in

France after 1960, illustrated by such artists as Joan Miró and Toyen (Marie

Cermínová). In 1972 he founded the publishing house Éditions Maintenant.

Collections of his poetry finally appeared in Croatia in 1974. Principal works: Le

Roi Gordogane, 1968; Mavena, 1972; Autour ou dedans, 1974.

Mavena

Neither yes nor no: she is entire,
A boat: she just has to keep silent.
Fish come to her as does dream.

She plunges her arms in water to go to sleep.
When she awakes, little drops fall from her fingers, laughing
On the ground: they are her eyes, all colors.
That’s why, in front of the birds, she closes herself o√ in fear.

Three green prairies watch you in her body.
As soon as she desires to be somewhere, her hands are already there.
She hides the wind in the waves.

She wonders why she should, like the sand, slip between
the fingers, because she is lovely, even without walking on her breath.
If you caressed her, she would slip between your fingers like sand.
Now do you know why I so love sand?

She doesn’t even need to be silent to say everything.
She doesn’t know what she desires when she looks through the long
branches of the deer.
If you knew...