by Aimé Césaire
As soon as I press the little pawl that I have under my tongue at a spot that escapes all detection all microscopic bombardment all dowser divination all scholarly prospecting beneath it triple layer of false eyelashes of centuries of insults of strata of madrepores of what I must call my niagara cavern in a burst of cockroaches in a cobra twitch a tongue like a cause for astonishment makes the leap of a machine for spitting a mouthful of curses a rising of the sewers of hell a premonitory ejaculation a urinary spurt a foul emission a sulfuric rhythm feeding an uninterruption of interjections—and then right there pushing between the paving stones the furious blue eucalypti that leave far behind them the splendor of veronicas, skulls smack in the delirium of dust like the jaboticaba plum and then right there started up like the loud buzzing of a hornet the true war of devolution in which all means are justified right there the passenger pigeons of the conflagration right there the crackling of secret transmitters and the thick tufts of black smoke that resemble the vaginal vegetation thrust into the air by rutting loins. I count. Obstructing the street a honey-colored armillaria lying dwarf-like on its side a church uprooted and reduced by catastrophe to its true proportions of a public urinal. I cross over collapsed bridges. I cross under new arches. Toboggan eye at the bottom of a cheek amidst woodwinds and well-polished brasses a house abutting an abyss with in cut-away view the violated virginity of the daughter of the house the lost goods and chattels of the father and the mother who believed in the dignity of mankind and in the bottom of a wool stocking the testicles pierced by the knitting needle of an unemployed workman from distant lands.
I place my hand on my forehead it’s a hatching of monsoons. I place my hand on my dick. It fainted in leaf smoke. All the deserter light of the sky has taken refuge in the red white and yellow heated bars of snakes attentive to the wasting away of this landscape sneered at by dog piss.
For what?
The planets are very fertile birds that constantly and majestically disclose their guano silos
the earth on its spit alternatively vomits grease from each of its facets
fistfuls of fish hook their emergency lights to the pilasters of stars whose ancient slippage crumbles away during the night in a thick very bitter flavor of coca.
Who among you has never happened to strike an earth because of its inhabitants’ malice? Today I am standing and in the sole whiteness that men have never recognized in me.
Aimé Césaire: The Collected Poetry
Copyright ©:
2010. Translated by Clayton Eshleman & A. James Arnold
A few random poems:
- Arithmetic on the Frontier by Rudyard Kipling
- Василий Курочкин – Старая песня
- The Reply Of Q. Horatius Flaccus To A Roman “Round-Robin” poem – Alfred Austin
- Missile – A Tanka Poem
- Омар Хайям – Никто не лицезрел ни рая, ни геенны
- Шекспир – Люби другого – Сонет 139
- Illusions by Mark R Slaughter
- The Hemp by Stephen Vincent Benet
- Autumn by Ramesh Anand
- A Poet’s Epitaph by William Wordsworth
- The Last Summer by Subhash Misra
- In Praise Of Limestone by W H Auden
- Владимир Набоков – Путь
- Untitled XX by Yunus Emre
- Beach Glass poem – Amy Clampitt poems | Poems and Poetry
External links
Bat’s Poetry Page – more poetry by Fledermaus
Talking Writing Monster’s Page –
Batty Writing – the bat’s idle chatter, thoughts, ideas and observations, all original, all fresh
Poems in English
- Makers And Creatures by Vernon Scannell
- Love thy Country and Do a useful Act – Gurazada by Vijay Narayana Chilaka
- Lesson In Grammar by Vernon Scannell
- Juan In Middle Age by Vernon Scannell
- Incendiary by Vernon Scannell
- Human Instrument by Victoria Bukofske
- Early Morning by Victoria Bukofske
- Death In The Lounge Bar by Vernon Scannell
- Ageing Schoolmaster by Vernon Scannell
- A sinners prayer by Victoria Rose
- A quiet storm by Victor A. Bueno M.
- A poodle and a hound by Victoria Rose
- A kiss to the ground by Victoria Rose
- A City Remembered by Vernon Scannell
- A Case Of Murder by Vernon Scannell
- Song IX: Ho Ye Who Seek Saving by William Morris
- Song IV: Draw Near and Behold Me by William Morris
- Song III: It Grew Up Without Heeding by William Morris
- Song II: Have No Thought for Tomorrow by William Morris
- Song I: Though the World Be A-Waning by William Morris
More external links (open in a new tab):
Doska or the Board – write anything
Search engines:
Yandex – the best search engine for searches in Russian (and the best overall image search engine, in any language, anywhere)
Qwant – the best search engine for searches in French, German as well as Romance and Germanic languages.
Ecosia – a search engine that supposedly… plants trees
Duckduckgo – the real alternative and a search engine that actually works. Without much censorship or partisan politics.
Yahoo– yes, it’s still around, amazingly, miraculously, incredibly, but now it seems to be powered by Bing.
Parallel Translations of Poetry
The Poetry Repository – an online library of poems, poetry, verse and poetic works
