Little-Known Sports

This delightfully subversive collection of poems further develops the form used by the author in Paragraphs (1978). This book is divided into three sections. The first, “The Art of Photography and Other Sorrows,” is devoted to, among other things, actual photographs, including the only known picture of Baudelaire’s mother. “Bestiary,” the second part, concerns ordinary household items like salt and pepper shakers, ironing boards, and tea pots seen metaphorically. “Little-Known Sports,” the title sections explores fierce but rarely reported athletic events such as answering the telephone or getting out of bed. The result is a quiet but profound transformation of everyday reality.