In the Mirror of the Eighth King

In this new book of essays, the noted British poet and translator explores a world in which all things are marvelous—and slightly awry. A dwarf in Trebizond is offended because his donors will not enter the cavern of a restaurant outside of which he waits; each June the head of Balzac appears on the plaster of a wall in a small French village; a warbler in the market at Rize on the Black Sea lets loose with a call that the author is sure is directly from the mountains of Georgia; a heart shaped “I Love You” balloon moves about the author's home and then suddenly disappears, escaping apparently into the world outside the house. In these beautifully written, poetic observations, Middleton explores through these odd events and coincidences the very nature and the meaning of our lives.