Abstract
Nancy Naomi Carlson (nancynaomicarlson.com) has authored eight titles (five translated). An NEA grant recipient, she was a finalist for the BTBA and CLMP awards. POETRY Three Poems by Khal Torabully [Carry my metaphor] Carry my metaphor; I touched the sea before waves deceived me. Carry my dream; I saw it all without opening eyes of salt. Carry my soul; I met death but never ever died again. Carry my silence; none of these words belong to you and I meld Indian words with language from Saint-Malo. At my Mozambican prow a mélange of peppered dreams is the aim of my human flesh. Khal Torabully, from Mauritius, is a prizewinning poet, essayist, film director, and semiologist. Author of some twenty-five books, he coined the term “coolitude” to give voice to indentured workers, imbuing the term with dignity and pride. Torabully’s linguistic acrobatics (wordplay and neologisms) serve to heighten the seriousness of his themes. [Like spume, each body] Like spume, each body wakes up on a wave. One straw, two straws four score sepoys and for entrails a coulis of blue men paw through stone-clotted fields. We are molasses, we are bagasse my African brother descended from slaves our skin is the trace like yours, of the same dark race. One straw, two straws fourscore sepoys for full-face deduction devalued by French tarot man tied to the tides by the spar made of coconut wood a flaw falters a seedless man destitute die-rolling race hanged from pandanus trees, in the name of the stunning sea Translator’s note: “Sepoy” is an Indian soldier who served under colonial rule. [The sea eats its sons] The sea eats its sons and I will crunch stones and not cleave the maimed nor believe the snail. And the sea no longer runs dry by man-made decree. And the junction of waves bathes the crosses in nebulous lights. In my great saga of blood the sea is cruentation of seaweed. Translations from the French By Nancy Naomi Carlson PHOTO: MICHAEL OLSEN/UNSPLASH WORLDLIT.ORG 27 ...
Published Version
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