Poetry International Poetry International
Poem

Boujema El Aoufi

Silenced poems

Thus
Are my silenced poems!
I write them with special tenderness
But again end up by loathing them . . .
And distrust the words they contain . . .
Once
I wrote a poem
That had several voices
And a narrow-aired throat . . .
I revised it in accordance to a subterranean imagination
That is extremely intricate
But when I needed it to speak
I realized that I forgot to write the mouth
From which
The poem would issue . . .
I contented myself
With only a hole at the foot of the page
Through which letters can breathe

SILENCED POEMS

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Silenced poems

Thus
Are my silenced poems!
I write them with special tenderness
But again end up by loathing them . . .
And distrust the words they contain . . .
Once
I wrote a poem
That had several voices
And a narrow-aired throat . . .
I revised it in accordance to a subterranean imagination
That is extremely intricate
But when I needed it to speak
I realized that I forgot to write the mouth
From which
The poem would issue . . .
I contented myself
With only a hole at the foot of the page
Through which letters can breathe

Silenced poems

Thus
Are my silenced poems!
I write them with special tenderness
But again end up by loathing them . . .
And distrust the words they contain . . .
Once
I wrote a poem
That had several voices
And a narrow-aired throat . . .
I revised it in accordance to a subterranean imagination
That is extremely intricate
But when I needed it to speak
I realized that I forgot to write the mouth
From which
The poem would issue . . .
I contented myself
With only a hole at the foot of the page
Through which letters can breathe
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