May 2011

Vic Nierva has always impressed me as one of those few living poets with a keen ear for sound. His Donne is a tour de force of a translation. The fusion of wit and passion, the abrupt entrances, the dislocations, ironies and paradoxes, the air-tight syntaxes, the inner disquiets both sacred and sensual, the metaphysical conceits—these are all here! What excites me the most, however, is how Nierva effectively translates Donne’s brutal supplications to a God he loves with such passion and confidence he never doubts will forgive him despite himself. This is not a translation of Donne; this is John Donne writing in Bicol.

Dr. Carlos Aureus

Professor of Latin and Critical Theory

University of the Philippines Diliman