The Yale Anthology of Twentieth-Century French Poetry

CHRISTOPHE TARKOS

for everything ends
as what it contemplates
—mary ann caws

Christophe Tarkos 1964–

marseilles, france

T

arkos has published more than twenty-five volumes of poetry. He gives

poetry performances regularly across Europe and collaborates fre-

quently with other French artists, writers, and composers such as Ka-

talin Molnar, Pascal Doury, and Eryck Abecassis. In contrast to the sparse but

dense writing characteristic of his time, his is instead discursive and comedic.

Tarkos is interested in the distortions and the malleability of language, as charac-

terized by his coined term worddoh. His work has appeared in the reviews Nio-

ques and Action poétique. Principal works: Le Damier, 1995; L’Oiseau vole, 1995;

Ma langue est poétique, 1996; Oui, 1996; Processe, 1996; Le Train, 1996; Caisses,

1997; Farine Aloou, 1997; La Bâton, 1998; L’Argent, 1999; La Cage, 1999; Le Signe,

67 Words with One Vowel and One Consonant

The plot shrinks. Yesterday, another letter ended. It’ll be missed. Poverty con-
tinues. There’s always one missing. It gets hard. One pack of words less. And a
whole way of speaking and thinking this way less, I don’t know exactly what’ll be
missing and the words already missing to say it, I can’t say it anymore, I don’t
know what letter’s the next to be missing. Poverty. The growth of the restriction
of the thinning plot.

JOY JOY JOY JOY JOY JOY PLUMB JOY JOY COME FROM ON HIGH
JOY JOY JOY JOY JOY JOY JOY JOY JOY JOY JOY PLUMB JOY