Athena Farrokhzad
"What a fate, my aunt whispers on the phone"
What a fate, my aunt whispers on the phone
Her voice broken by four unprecedented decades
Twice, we have sent her
embalmed children on planes across the continent
How much, I ask the funeral director
As if we had hired him for any shipment he replies:
It depends on the weight of the deceased
Khale, how do you manage to make night into day
This glacier will destroy me
and they did not even rest in my womb
Every dawn I weep in the armpit of my beloved
Tell me again, the fable of how the impossible
simply takes a bit longer
"Wat een lot, fluistert mijn tante in de telefoon"
Wat een lot, fluistert mijn tante in de telefoon
Haar stem is gebroken van vier decennia zonder gelijke
Twee keer hebben we haar gebalsemde kinderen
in een vliegtuig over het hele continent gezonden
Hoeveel kost het, vroeg ik de uitvaartondernemer
Alsof we hem ingehuurd hadden voor een willekeurige
verzending antwoordde hij:
Het hangt ervan af hoeveel de overledene weegt
Kahle, hoe slaagde je er in nacht tot dag te maken
Ik kom om in deze gletsjer
en ze lagen niet eens in mijn baarmoeder
Elke ochtend huil ik in de oksel van mijn geliefde
Vertel nog eens de fabel over het onmogelijke dat
gewoon iets langer duurt
From: Een witte suite
Publisher: 2018, Perdu, Amsterdam
"Vilket öde, viskar min moster i telefonen"
Vilket öde, viskar min moster i telefonen
Hennes röst bruten av fyra decennier utan motstycke
Två gånger har vi sänt hennes
balsamerade barn i flygplan över kontinenten
Vad kostar det, frågade jag begravningsentreprenören
Som om vi anlitat honom för vilken försändelse
som helst svarade han:
Det beror på vad den avlidne väger
Khale, hur bär du dig åt för att göra dag av natt
Jag går under i den här glaciären
och de låg inte ens i min livmoder
Varje gryning gråter jag i min älskades armhåla
Berätta den igen, fabeln om hur det omöjliga
bara dröjer lite längre
Athena Farrokhzad
The work of poet, playwright, translator and literary critic Athena Farrokhzad boils with rage, but it also resonates with concern, as one constantly gives way to the other. She believes that stories are the only legacy that really matters. Family therefore plays a key role in her work, as in her extraordinary collection White Blight, in which a family confronts the past in conversations about ...
"What a fate, my aunt whispers on the phone"
What a fate, my aunt whispers on the phone
Her voice broken by four unprecedented decades
Twice, we have sent her
embalmed children on planes across the continent
How much, I ask the funeral director
As if we had hired him for any shipment he replies:
It depends on the weight of the deceased
Khale, how do you manage to make night into day
This glacier will destroy me
and they did not even rest in my womb
Every dawn I weep in the armpit of my beloved
Tell me again, the fable of how the impossible
simply takes a bit longer
"What a fate, my aunt whispers on the phone"
What a fate, my aunt whispers on the phone
Her voice broken by four unprecedented decades
Twice, we have sent her
embalmed children on planes across the continent
How much, I ask the funeral director
As if we had hired him for any shipment he replies:
It depends on the weight of the deceased
Khale, how do you manage to make night into day
This glacier will destroy me
and they did not even rest in my womb
Every dawn I weep in the armpit of my beloved
Tell me again, the fable of how the impossible
simply takes a bit longer
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