A Season in Granada by Frederico Garcia Lorca

This book collects together previously uncollected poetry and prose from Frederico Garcia Lorca, beautifully translated by Christopher Maurer. The poetry is simply written, the prose lyrical. Both are full of a keenly felt sense for the poets surroundings, a love of nature and a very awake imagination. All the writing centres on the city of Granada, where Lorca was born and where he would be murdered. Some quotes:

'In the afternoon, when the admirable bee-eaters feel the wind coming and break into song, and the cicada is in a frenzy, rubbing together its two little plates of gold, I sit down near the living depths of the pool.' from Meditations and Allegories of the Water.

'The Sierra Nevada lends a background of boulders or of snow or of green dream to the songs that cannot fly' from How a City Sings from November to November.

It's a beautiful collection, one that lingers in the mind long after reading it.

I also recently read The Emperor's Babe a novel in verse, which I reviewed here on Pink Gun.