Goatsong by Phoebe Giannisi, trans. Brian Sneeden
Poetry Book Society Translation Choice Winter 2025 Kiwao Nomura Knees are a locus of

Knees are a locus of articulation

Growing up in Whitley Bay

reaching out a hand

yet very eternal

’ – Rebecca Goss

Goatsong by Phoebe Giannisi, trans. Brian Sneeden<br><b>Poetry Book Society Translation Choice Winter 2025</b> Kiwao Nomura Knees are a locus ofPublished 6th November 2025. The ancient Greek word for tragedy () is a compound of goat () and song ( ). In Phoebe Giannisi's Goatsong, the seam that connects human and animal, myths and history, is the body. In Giannisis language, life obeys myth. A man places a screaming cicada in his mouth, reminding us of a scene from Platos Phaedrus, where Socrates claims cicadas to have been humans who became entranced by the invention of singing, and didnt