Alison Grace Koehler
Soleil or not soleil
—after Liliane Giraudon
First image: Alison Grace Koehler’s stained glass translation (and its reflection) of Liliane Giraudon’s « Soleil or not soleil ».
Second Image: Alison Grace Koehler’s stained glass translation (painted/fired text visible) of Liliane Giraudon’s « Soleil or not soleil ».
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Statement of Homage
After a reading she gave last year in Paris at The Red Wheelbarrow, I had a chance to speak with Liliane Giraudon. About making stained glass windows inspired by poems, or translating poetry into stained glass. She told me that she knew which poem of hers she could imagine as some shape of this, and then sent me « Soleil or not soleil ». I had just read Love is Colder Than the Lake and loved it. I often struggle to verbalize why I love the poems and books and writers who reach most thoroughly inside of me. This is why my homage is, again, a window. I wanted to work with the poem she chose for me. On my first reading, I underlined the following lines:
me voici joyeusement
de l’aorte luminaire
surtout si le soir tombe
le déchirement d’une étoile
mais c’est toi c’est moi
qui sommes mangés
je danse comme j’aboie
montrez donc vos fesses cela suffira
postcrasse de la traductrice
réécrire ce poème c’est à dire
en donner une autre version
cette épine renouvelable
congélation pornographique
encore trois jours pour oublier ce poème
que la poésie
I maintained the order of the lines above, as well as their original indentations. These are the fragments I first envisioned painting onto glass. I eventually decided to reduce the amount of text inside the window itself, but the original selection has since coalesced into a found poem.
Below is my translation of the fragments into English:
I joyfully express
of the luminary aorta
especially if evening falls
the tearing of a star
but it's you, it's me
who are eaten
I dance as I bark
show your ass, that will suffice
the translator's post-crass
rewrite this poem, that is to say
give another version
this renewable thorn
pornographic freezing
three more days to forget this poem
that poetry
I fired some of the text fragments in French onto glass and incorporated them into the window. The poem also references Kurt Schwitters, whose art resonates with me and the collage-ing and soldering of shards.
« Soleil or not soleil » has appeared in the review Al Dante « Attaques » and will be published in the upcoming Pot-Pourri in September 2025 with Editions P.O.L.
Liliane Giraudon
Liliane Giraudon lives in Marseille, and is the author of numerous books, including novels and collections of poetry. Her books have primarily been published by France's Editions P.O.L. and range across genres. Her poetry collections translated into English include Sphinx (trans. Lindsay Turner, Litmus Press, 2023), and Love Is Colder than the Lake (trans. Lindsay Turner and Sarah Riggs, Nightboat Books, 2024).
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Alison Grace Koehler is a stained glass poet who uses broken shards and text to create windows and performances. Her first book Stained Glass Poetry (2020, Paris Heretics) bridges these two worlds, as does her spoken word album Stained Glass Arrangements, (2023, Paris Heretics). Alison has performed in numerous international festivals, galleries and art centers. She released her second book and spoken word album Secret Space, in collaboration with Benjamin Dwyer, produced by Farpoint Recordings, in 2024, at the James Joyce Center, Dublin. Born in Chicago, Alison currently lives and works in Paris, France.