George J. Dance wrote:
>
>> The best of The Penny Blog, for National Poetry Month:
>> Bird Cage, by Hector de Saint-Denys Garneau
>>
>> I am a bird cage
>> A bone cage
>> With a bird
>>
>> The bird in my bone cage
>> Is death making its nest
>>
>> When nothing is happening
>> I hear its wings ruffling
>>
>> And when I've laughed a lot
>> If I suddenly stop
>>
>> I hear it chirping
>> Deep down
>> Like a tiny alarm
>>
>> It is a bird held captive
>> Death in my bone cage
>>
>> Wouldn't it like to fly away
>> Is it you who makes it stay
>> Or is it me
>> I can't say
>>
>> It cannot leave until
>> Having eaten all
>> My heart
>> The blood source
>> With the life inside
>>
>> It will have my soul in its beak.
>>
>> http://gdancesbetty.blogspot.ca/2010/03/bird-cage-hector-de-saint-denys-garneau.html

> Okay, so I think it is indeed Hector who got the translations.

> "Hector de Saint-Denys Garneau (1912-1943) is considered the first modernist
> poet in Quebec. His poetry feeds on landscapes of his country in order to
> connect the poet to the universal themes of the unknown and death. The poems
> show the duality of the man through the look that the child-poet takes on
> distressing images: birds that escape, forest fires, images exacerbated by
> the opaque transparency of poetic language..."

> https://www.poetryinvoice.com/node/2050

> ===================================================

This poem continues to make me think of Robin Williams, an actor I still miss.

Will Dockery wrote:

> George J. Dance wrote:
>>
>>> The best of The Penny Blog, for National Poetry Month:
>>> Bird Cage, by Hector de Saint-Denys Garneau
>>>
>>> I am a bird cage
>>> A bone cage
>>> With a bird
>>>
>>> The bird in my bone cage
>>> Is death making its nest
>>>
>>> When nothing is happening
>>> I hear its wings ruffling
>>>
>>> And when I've laughed a lot
>>> If I suddenly stop
>>>
>>> I hear it chirping
>>> Deep down
>>> Like a tiny alarm
>>>
>>> It is a bird held captive
>>> Death in my bone cage
>>>
>>> Wouldn't it like to fly away
>>> Is it you who makes it stay
>>> Or is it me
>>> I can't say
>>>
>>> It cannot leave until
>>> Having eaten all
>>> My heart
>>> The blood source
>>> With the life inside
>>>
>>> It will have my soul in its beak.
>>>
>>> http://gdancesbetty.blogspot.ca/2010/03/bird-cage-hector-de-saint-denys-garneau.html

>> Okay, so I think it is indeed Hector who got the translations.

>> "Hector de Saint-Denys Garneau (1912-1943) is considered the first modernist
>> poet in Quebec. His poetry feeds on landscapes of his country in order to
>> connect the poet to the universal themes of the unknown and death. The poems
>> show the duality of the man through the look that the child-poet takes on
>> distressing images: birds that escape, forest fires, images exacerbated by
>> the opaque transparency of poetic language..."

>> https://www.poetryinvoice.com/node/2050

>> ===================================================

> This poem continues to make me think of Robin Williams, an actor I still miss.

It was one of his better movies...:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kO0kWTR_7tQ

On 2022-06-02 7:15 a.m., W-Dockery wrote:
> George J. Dance wrote:
>>
>>> The best of The Penny Blog, for National Poetry Month:
>>> Bird Cage, by Hector de Saint-Denys Garneau
>>>
>>> I am a bird cage
>>> A bone cage
>>> With a bird
>>>
>>> The bird in my bone cage
>>> Is death making its nest
>>>
>>> When nothing is happening
>>> I hear its wings ruffling
>>>
>>> And when I've laughed a lot
>>> If I suddenly stop
>>>
>>> I hear it chirping
>>> Deep down
>>> Like a tiny alarm
>>>
>>> It is a bird held captive
>>> Death in my bone cage
>>>
>>> Wouldn't it like to fly away
>>> Is it you who makes it stay
>>> Or is it me
>>> I can't say
>>>
>>> It cannot leave until
>>> Having eaten all
>>> My heart
>>> The blood source
>>> With the life inside
>>>
>>> It will have my soul in its beak.
>>>
>>> http://gdancesbetty.blogspot.ca/2010/03/bird-cage-hector-de-saint-denys-garneau.html
>>>
>
>> Okay, so I think it is indeed Hector who got the translations.
>
>> "Hector de Saint-Denys Garneau (1912-1943) is considered the first
>> modernist poet in Quebec. His poetry feeds on landscapes of his
>> country in order to connect the poet to the universal themes of the
>> unknown and death. The poems show the duality of the man through the
>> look that the child-poet takes on distressing images: birds that
>> escape, forest fires, images exacerbated by the opaque transparency of
>> poetic language..."
>
>> https://www.poetryinvoice.com/node/2050
>
>> ===================================================
>
> This poem continues to make me think of Robin Williams, an actor I still
> miss.

It's something we've run into before, the last time with Jim Senetto's
cento of Pink Floyd titles - the danger of a reference overwhelming the
poem. In this case the reference is purely accidental; it's a literal
translation of Garneau's title (exactly the one Google Translate gives),
and he chose that title and conceit back in the '30s. I can't change it.

George J. Dance wrote:

> On 2022-06-02 7:15 a.m., W-Dockery wrote:
>> George J. Dance wrote:
>>>
>>>> The best of The Penny Blog, for National Poetry Month:
>>>> Bird Cage, by Hector de Saint-Denys Garneau
>>>>
>>>> I am a bird cage
>>>> A bone cage
>>>> With a bird
>>>>
>>>> The bird in my bone cage
>>>> Is death making its nest
>>>>
>>>> When nothing is happening
>>>> I hear its wings ruffling
>>>>
>>>> And when I've laughed a lot
>>>> If I suddenly stop
>>>>
>>>> I hear it chirping
>>>> Deep down
>>>> Like a tiny alarm
>>>>
>>>> It is a bird held captive
>>>> Death in my bone cage
>>>>
>>>> Wouldn't it like to fly away
>>>> Is it you who makes it stay
>>>> Or is it me
>>>> I can't say
>>>>
>>>> It cannot leave until
>>>> Having eaten all
>>>> My heart
>>>> The blood source
>>>> With the life inside
>>>>
>>>> It will have my soul in its beak.
>>>>
>>>> http://gdancesbetty.blogspot.ca/2010/03/bird-cage-hector-de-saint-denys-garneau.html
>>>>
>>
>>> Okay, so I think it is indeed Hector who got the translations.
>>
>>> "Hector de Saint-Denys Garneau (1912-1943) is considered the first
>>> modernist poet in Quebec. His poetry feeds on landscapes of his
>>> country in order to connect the poet to the universal themes of the
>>> unknown and death. The poems show the duality of the man through the
>>> look that the child-poet takes on distressing images: birds that
>>> escape, forest fires, images exacerbated by the opaque transparency of
>>> poetic language..."
>>
>>> https://www.poetryinvoice.com/node/2050
>>
>>> ===================================================
>>
>> This poem continues to make me think of Robin Williams, an actor I still
>> miss.

> It's something we've run into before, the last time with Jim Senetto's
> cento of Pink Floyd titles - the danger of a reference overwhelming the
> poem. In this case the reference is purely accidental; it's a literal
> translation of Garneau's title (exactly the one Google Translate gives),
> and he chose that title and conceit back in the '30s. I can't change it.

Yes, I know, while the title of the 1996 Robin Williams film is a translation of the title of the 1973 French play his film was based on, "La Cage aux Folles":

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Cage_aux_Folles_(film)

Will Dockery wrote:

> George J. Dance wrote:
>>
>>> The best of The Penny Blog, for National Poetry Month:
>>> Bird Cage, by Hector de Saint-Denys Garneau
>>>
>>> I am a bird cage
>>> A bone cage
>>> With a bird
>>>
>>> The bird in my bone cage
>>> Is death making its nest
>>>
>>> When nothing is happening
>>> I hear its wings ruffling
>>>
>>> And when I've laughed a lot
>>> If I suddenly stop
>>>
>>> I hear it chirping
>>> Deep down
>>> Like a tiny alarm
>>>
>>> It is a bird held captive
>>> Death in my bone cage
>>>
>>> Wouldn't it like to fly away
>>> Is it you who makes it stay
>>> Or is it me
>>> I can't say
>>>
>>> It cannot leave until
>>> Having eaten all
>>> My heart
>>> The blood source
>>> With the life inside
>>>
>>> It will have my soul in its beak.
>>>
>>> http://gdancesbetty.blogspot.ca/2010/03/bird-cage-hector-de-saint-denys-garneau.html

>> Okay, so I think it is indeed Hector who got the translations.

>> "Hector de Saint-Denys Garneau (1912-1943) is considered the first modernist
>> poet in Quebec. His poetry feeds on landscapes of his country in order to
>> connect the poet to the universal themes of the unknown and death. The poems
>> show the duality of the man through the look that the child-poet takes on
>> distressing images: birds that escape, forest fires, images exacerbated by
>> the opaque transparency of poetic language..."

>> https://www.poetryinvoice.com/node/2050

>> ===================================================

> This poem continues to make me think of Robin Williams, an actor I still miss.

Agree and second......!