Poetry. Translated from the French by Peter Consenstein. In French, 'il,' the third person masculine singular pronoun, can also have no gender at all: il pleut means 'it's raining.' In Dominique Fourcade's IL, 'il' means 'it'--but not exactly. Genderless, 'it' is the man-woman, the woman-man-and the place where we are each other. Rather than exploit difference, Fourcade allows the sonority of the word to generate the curious masculine-feminine dialogue we all hear within us, if listening. Full of rich permutations, the resulting poems reveal an enormous resonance within this simple word as well as a zone of peace. Dominique Fourcade is one of France's leading poets, with over 20 books to his name. He is also an art critic; he has done extensive work on Henri Matisse, and has collaborated with contemporary artists and dancers on books and other projects. He lives in Paris. Also available from SPD is Fourcade's EVERYTHING HAPPENS, published by Post-Apollo Press.