The Yale Anthology of Twentieth-Century French Poetry

JEAN TARDIEU

and Tuesday perhaps your hair
I’ll also have to hear the voice
that of the ghosts
one hesitating one persuading
that life is not so terrible
as I thought it just now
Wednesday forget everything
But Thursday it’s a perfume
you can’t forget
the perfume of the rainbow
The other days
All the other days
I’ve promised not
to say a thing except to me
—mary ann caws

Jean Tardieu 1903–1995

saint-germain-de-joux, ain, france

A

poet, playwright, and critic of music and the visual arts, Tardieu

attempted to introduce new images and sounds during an era already

highly inventive. Although he resisted identification with any particu-

lar group, he was most closely associated with the Theater of the Absurd. He

translated metaphysical anguish with extreme concision in his theatrical works

and with great subtlety in his poetry and prose. He was appointed head of the

drama department of French radio and began the radio station that would

become France-musique. Principal works: Le Fleuve caché, 1933; Accents, 1939; Le

Témoin invisible, 1943; Les Dieux étou√és, 1946; Jours pétrifiés, 1947; Poèmes à

jouer, 1950; Monsieur Monsieur, 1951; Un mot pour un autre, 1951; La Première

Personne du singulier, 1952; Une voix sans personne, 1954; Histoires obscures, 1961;

Les Portes de toile, 1969; Formeries, 1976; Comme ceci, comme cela, 1979; Poèmes à

voir, 1990; Le Miroir ébloui, 1993; Da Capo, 1995.