Prose Poems

Author: Pierre Reverdy 

Translator: Ron Padgett

Publisher: Black Square Editions (2014)

Prose Poems is Pierre Reverdy’s first collection of poems, originally published in 1915. Reverdy was born in Narbonne in 1889. In 1910 he came to Paris, where he knew no one, but he soon met Guillaume Apollinaire and Max Jacob, as well as Picasso, Matisse, Braque, and Juan Gris, who later illustrated his books.

French poet Pierre Reverdy was born in Narbonne in 1889. In 1910 he came to Paris, where he knew no one, but he soon met Guillaume Apollinaire and Max Jacob, as well as Picasso, Matisse, Braque, and Juan Gris, who later illustrated his books. During World War I, he edited Nour-Sud, a review that published Apollinaire and Jacob, along with the early work of Breton, Tzara, Aragon, Soupault, Huidobro, and Cocteau. In 1926 Reverdy left Paris for the village of Solesmes, renowned for its monastery choir, where he lived until his death in 1960. Prose Poems was his first book.