Mythic and familial beasts roam the swamps and moors of Pascale Petit’s Beast. These spirits of the wild haunt the Camargue of Provence, the limestone Causses and gorges of the Languedoc, Indian tiger forests, the Amazon rainforest, and her home by Bodmin Moor in Cornwall. Some of these remote places are vestiges of earth’s pristine habitats, while other wildernesses are encaged in cellars of Paris, along with the world’s last species. Their essence is evoked in lithe and luxurious lines sometimes compressed as a trapped animal. An estranged father reappears as a hunter, while Maman is an orb spider or a grand piano; both are predators. And there are earthly beasts – wild horses and bulls, lammergeiers, bee-eaters and catfish, remnants of a vanishing natural world. Beast asks if survival is possible in an abusive family and on an abused home planet, in the face of climate catastrophe, childhood trauma and war. These poems address difficult challenges, insisting that making art is an act of love and hope, and there are joyful lyrics celebrating the ineffable beauty of endangered species. Beast is a Poetry Book Society Recommendation. Content warning: this book contains descriptions of historical sexual abuse and assault.

Table of Contents:
I. AMAZONIA 10 The River 12 Oxbow Lake 14 Catfish 15 House of Puberty 17 Concert for Motherhood 18 Dumbo Octopus 19 Monkey Muriel 20 My Book of the Dead 22 Portrait of My Mother at Six Weeks 23 Maman 24 Western Façade 25 Skinner 26 Hummer 27 The Lover’s Bed 29 Kisser 30 The Insect Father 31 To a Botfly 32 The Pelts of Animals 34 Pale-winged Trumpeters 35 Vial II. THE CAMARGUE AND LANGUEDOC 38 On Longing 40 The Lammergeier Daughter 41 Civet de Cerf 42 Papa Guêpier 43 Choker 44 After visiting the Museum of Doors, Pézenas, 46 The Frozen Zoo 48 Bac du Sauvage 49 Ode to Causse Méjean with Takhi Horses 50 Chemin des Rainettes 51 The Beast of Vaccarès 53 Courses Camarguaises 54 The Tarasque Tattoo 56 Camargue Bull at Dusk 58 Hide (Emperors and Egrets) 60 Ode to the Camargue 62 Hide (Mosquitoes) 64 Hide (My Birth) 65 Letter to Muriel 69 The Walnut Tree 70 Maman Argiope 72 Hide (Red Crayfish Claws and a Glossy Ibis) 73 My Mother’s Provençal Dress III. TALA ZONE 76 Tala Zone IV. WHAT ROUGH BEAST? 85 I asked if I could leave the Earth 86 A Mother Sings 87 What Eagle Saw 88 Butcherbirds 89 Salt Bride 90 Beauty V. BEAST OF BODMIN 93 The Moor Horses 95 Galloway Bull at the Waterhole 96 Roebuck 98 Ode to a Cornish Hedge 100 Song Thrush 102 Swallows 104 Murmurations at Roughtor 105 Beast of Bodmin 111 Acknowledgements