Andra Rotaru

Tribar Andra Rotaru

Translated from Romanian by Anca Roncea, Tribar starts from the geometrical concept of an impossible triangle whose three sides do not connect but still exist in the form of a triangle, creating a direction for movement. Andra Rotaru's poetic work has developed from some of her encounters with modern dance choreography: her poems simultaneously mimic and track the body in motion. Her "connections" become joints or articulated bones that work together to carry the body along. This translation recreates this embodiment in English by focusing on the minute details of movement and sound in Andra's language and on the "kinetic air" of Romanian. Poet Sawako Nakayasu describes Tribar as scenes that carry you through a changing landscape that can be menacing, historical, scientific, or downright violent--all in torqued connection with each other like the "incorrect connections" of the tribar. Romanian literary critic Ioana Bo?tenaru describes this book as a choreography of visions, impregnated with explanations, definitions and confessions, at the end of which the instance, which found relief in the smell of milk on its knees, manages to emerge from the wound, rediscovering self-joy.