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Apr 12, 2017

"Poetry surrounds us everywhere, but putting it on paper is, alas, not so easy as looking at it." --Vincent Van Gogh

This Is A Poem That Heals Fish

What is a poem? The beautiful children's book, 'This Is a Poem That Heals Fish', follows the journey of a young boy seeking to answer just that. Written by French poet Jean-Pierre Simen and brilliantly translated into English by Claudia Zoe Bedrick, the story is as moving as it is profound. Poetry, by its very nature, is often elusive, and this is reflected in the responses of the characters who are tasked with defining it. "A poem", one replies, "is when words beat their wings. It is sung in a cage." By the end of the story, the young boy learns that a poem is made up of far more than the words that compose it. And perhaps can only be defined by those who bravely ask the question.