O Cadoiro

Rooted in medieval Galician-Portuguese cantigas, most untranslated before now, Erin Mouré’s poems take off from the title phrase, literally “the place where falling is made.” Also a word for waterfall, O Cadoiro opens the “falling-place” that humans inhabit, where poems help heal without necessarily resolving anything. Where many poets tend to disdain the lyric form, Mouré embraces it — returning to its roots, reveling in its beauty, and exposing its surprising modernity.