Poetry International Poetry International
Poem

Abdelilah Mouissi

I get poetry from seismic and volcano data, and from weather forecasts.

I cool down in anger.
When I write I lose my noblest side,
My most rational part.
I look poetry closely in the face and let loose my eyes like someone drunk,
I let my tongue hang out like an idiot.
Sometimes I stare at it and laugh, laugh, laugh.
Poetry is a farce.
I write as if polishing dishes alone at midnight,
While listening to female neighbors shouting: go to sleep, you misfit . . . !
The alarms in my brain cease to function,
Sensors screw up,
I walk while lewd metaphors burst in my hands like dynamite.
Things are not as I imagine them to be, O old Rhetoric,
Things are as I experience them
You liar . . .

I never memorize my poems
And never believed in poetry societies.
I never believed in the theory of ‘great poets’.
My sole belief is that accessing a poem is like going to the brothel on Sunday,
Going with a dissolute thought in the head,
Going alone, burdened with despair, hunger and oppression,
Going with plastic and political condoms.
I didn’t learn poetry from books at all,
I learnt it from street vagabondage,
From over-excited pan-Arab theories at the gates of luxury hotels,
From the screams of commercial love in hotel rooms.
From seismic and volcano data and weather forecasts.
From the sitting-in-a-public-garden theory of Norddine Zouitni
While feeding stray birds of his heart and eyes.
The spinning of the Earth makes me dizzy.
The thought of the New Year’s Eve
Crossed my mind.
Only drinking oneself dizzy removes dizziness.

Slow justice is like asking for a lift to planet Mars on a wooden cart from the 17th century.
220864
Is the secret number of my heart safe.
Enter the number, O poem,
And then you’ll know
How angry I am.

أتلقى الشعر من بيانات الزلازل والبراكين ومن النشرات الجوية.

أتلقى الشعر من بيانات الزلازل والبراكين ومن النشرات الجوية.


أهدأ بالغضب
عندما أكتب أفقد جزئي الأنبل،
وأفقد جزئي الأعقل.
أنظر في وجه الشعر عن قرب وأدلي عينيَّ مثل مخمور،
أدلي لساني مثل أبله.
أحيانا أنظر إليه وأضحك. ثم أضحك وأضحك.
الشعر مسخرة.
أكتب كما أجلي الصحون وحيدا في منتصف الليل
فأسمع صوت الجارات يصرخن: نم أيها المهجور.
تتعطل أجهزة الإنذار في عقلي
وتخسر مجسات الألغام،
أمشي فتنفجر الاستعارات الفاسقة كالديناميت بين يدي.
الأمور ليست كما أتخيلها أيتها البلاغة القديمة،
الأمور كما أعيشها
أيتها الكاذبة.

لا أحفظ شعري أبدا،
ولم أومن يوما بالجماعات الشعرية.
لم أومن أيضا بنظرية فحول الشعراء.
إيماني الوحيد أن الدخول إلى القصيدة أشبه بالذهاب إلى البورديل يوم الأحد،
الذهاب بفكرة ماجنة في رأس،.
الذهاب وحيدا محملا باليأس والجوع والقهر،
الذهاب بالعازل الطبي والعازل السياسي.
لم أتلق قط الشعر من الكتب،
أتلقاه من صعلكة البولفارات.
أتلقاه من نظريات القومية العربية الهائجة بباب الفنادق الفاخرة،
ومن صرخات الحب التجاري في غرفها.
أتلقاه من بيانات الزلازل والبراكين ومن النشرات الجوية.
أتلقاه من نظرية جلوس نورالدين الزويتني بالحديقة العمومية
يطعم العصافير الضالة من قلبه ومن عينيه.
دوران الأرض يصيبني بالدوخة.
فكرة السنة الجديدة
حلَّت برأسي.
لا تزول الدوخة إلا بالدوخة.

العدالة البطيئة أشبه بطلب توصيلة إلى المريخ
على عربة خشبية من القرن 17.
220864
ها هو الرقم السري لخزنة قلبي
ادخليه أيتها القصيدة،
وقتها قد تدركين
كم أنا غاضب منك.
Close

I get poetry from seismic and volcano data, and from weather forecasts.

I cool down in anger.
When I write I lose my noblest side,
My most rational part.
I look poetry closely in the face and let loose my eyes like someone drunk,
I let my tongue hang out like an idiot.
Sometimes I stare at it and laugh, laugh, laugh.
Poetry is a farce.
I write as if polishing dishes alone at midnight,
While listening to female neighbors shouting: go to sleep, you misfit . . . !
The alarms in my brain cease to function,
Sensors screw up,
I walk while lewd metaphors burst in my hands like dynamite.
Things are not as I imagine them to be, O old Rhetoric,
Things are as I experience them
You liar . . .

I never memorize my poems
And never believed in poetry societies.
I never believed in the theory of ‘great poets’.
My sole belief is that accessing a poem is like going to the brothel on Sunday,
Going with a dissolute thought in the head,
Going alone, burdened with despair, hunger and oppression,
Going with plastic and political condoms.
I didn’t learn poetry from books at all,
I learnt it from street vagabondage,
From over-excited pan-Arab theories at the gates of luxury hotels,
From the screams of commercial love in hotel rooms.
From seismic and volcano data and weather forecasts.
From the sitting-in-a-public-garden theory of Norddine Zouitni
While feeding stray birds of his heart and eyes.
The spinning of the Earth makes me dizzy.
The thought of the New Year’s Eve
Crossed my mind.
Only drinking oneself dizzy removes dizziness.

Slow justice is like asking for a lift to planet Mars on a wooden cart from the 17th century.
220864
Is the secret number of my heart safe.
Enter the number, O poem,
And then you’ll know
How angry I am.

I get poetry from seismic and volcano data, and from weather forecasts.

I cool down in anger.
When I write I lose my noblest side,
My most rational part.
I look poetry closely in the face and let loose my eyes like someone drunk,
I let my tongue hang out like an idiot.
Sometimes I stare at it and laugh, laugh, laugh.
Poetry is a farce.
I write as if polishing dishes alone at midnight,
While listening to female neighbors shouting: go to sleep, you misfit . . . !
The alarms in my brain cease to function,
Sensors screw up,
I walk while lewd metaphors burst in my hands like dynamite.
Things are not as I imagine them to be, O old Rhetoric,
Things are as I experience them
You liar . . .

I never memorize my poems
And never believed in poetry societies.
I never believed in the theory of ‘great poets’.
My sole belief is that accessing a poem is like going to the brothel on Sunday,
Going with a dissolute thought in the head,
Going alone, burdened with despair, hunger and oppression,
Going with plastic and political condoms.
I didn’t learn poetry from books at all,
I learnt it from street vagabondage,
From over-excited pan-Arab theories at the gates of luxury hotels,
From the screams of commercial love in hotel rooms.
From seismic and volcano data and weather forecasts.
From the sitting-in-a-public-garden theory of Norddine Zouitni
While feeding stray birds of his heart and eyes.
The spinning of the Earth makes me dizzy.
The thought of the New Year’s Eve
Crossed my mind.
Only drinking oneself dizzy removes dizziness.

Slow justice is like asking for a lift to planet Mars on a wooden cart from the 17th century.
220864
Is the secret number of my heart safe.
Enter the number, O poem,
And then you’ll know
How angry I am.
Sponsors
Gemeente Rotterdam
Nederlands Letterenfonds
Stichting Van Beuningen Peterich-fonds
Prins Bernhard cultuurfonds
Lira fonds
Versopolis
J.E. Jurriaanse
Gefinancierd door de Europese Unie
Elise Mathilde Fonds
Stichting Verzameling van Wijngaarden-Boot
Veerhuis
VDM
Partners
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