Look, Breathe isn’t just a collection of poetry, it’s a gathering of voices. Chris Powici’s poems and the translations that accompany them—into Scots, Gaelic, Doric and a host of other languages evoke a shared feeling for the earth and our myriad ways of seeing and listening to those other, astonishing lives, from the grass at our feet to a swan haloed in moonlight, with whom we happen to share a planet.

 

Chris Powici lives in Perthshire where he spends a lot of time cycling and some time writing poetry and occasional essays. He edited the literary magazine Northwords Now from 2010 to 2017 and teaches creative writing for the University of Stirling and The Open University.

 

‘Chris Powici is a poet with Romanian roots who was raised in Southern England and now resides in Central Scotland. This legacy makes him especially attuned to culture, place and language so it’s entirely fitting that he should invite poets speaking in many tongues to translate his poems. Powici is concerned with how we occupy and observe the natural world, and the poets he gathers around him pay him the compliment of their attention and care. There’s a sounding of Celtic voices, in addition to Danish, Italian, Flemish, Romanian and Kannada. An inspired idea, beautifully realised; in Powici’s words, “so many flashes and glints, so many quick voices”.’

 

—Tamar Yoseloff

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