ABSTRACT
Readers believing that contemporary French poetry is hopelessly abstract should try the sprawling, rumbustious verse and prose of Jean-Pierre Verhegge. His "Manifeste cochon" incites young poets to rebel against everyone and everything, including himself. "Begin by scoffing at the boasting tone of my exhortations!" he exclaims. The poem moves forward with explosive honesty and countless vivid details as Verheggen sums up his wife's life, from her childhood in Italy through their long years together, the birth of their children, and a chance encounter on the boulevard Saint-Germain with the actor Marcello Mastroianni. With regard to the illness, no details are spared, but the scientific precision of Verheggen's verse constitutes a strong and memorable image of the woman's (and the couple's) struggle against the disease. There is absolutely nothing sentimental in the poet's lucid descriptions, but there is a great deal of emotion in his amorous exclamations.
