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:
- Robert Burns: First Six Verses Of The Ninetieth Psalm Versified, The :
- On Reading Omar Khayyam by Vachel Lindsay
- Вера Павлова – Объятье
- Lost poem – Alfred Austin
- Salvage poem – Amy Clampitt poems | Poems and Poetry
- At The Gate Of The Convent poem – Alfred Austin
- Song—Address to the Woodlark by Robert Burns
- Distant Time by Rabindranath Tagore
- No Worst, There Is None. Pitched Past Pitch Of Grief poem – Gerard Manley Hopkins poems
- I’m My Own Grandpa by Shel Silverstein
- The Benefactors by Rudyard Kipling
- Across Kansas by William Stafford
- Sonnet 32: If thou survive my well-contented day by William Shakespeare
- From ‘Samson Agonistes’ i poem – John Milton poems
- Once Was A Singer For God Remembering Nekia
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
- 3 Fun Ways to Stimulate Creative Thinking
- The True Beauty of Poetry
- Waste Land – A Thorough History of Humanity
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- Creative Branding Solutions – So Why Do I Need a Logo?
- Writing Strategy: On Getting Inspired Everyday
- Creativity in America and How Italians Can Learn From American Ingenuity
- The Modern Lyricist As Poet
- Free Poetry Competitions – Prepare to Win The Next Poetry Competition That You Enter!
- Live Inspired With Famous Inspiring Quotes
- Songwriting Tip – Structure of a Pop Song
- Comments: A Life Well Lived is Always an Inspiration – My Friend Muniappan Velu of Chennai, India
- How Does Writing Improves Your Mental Health?
- Book Review: A Dictionary Of Indian English Litterateurs: 1794-2010
- English Poetry. Madison Julius Cawein. Indifference. Мэдисон Джулиус Кавейн.
- English Poetry. Madison Julius Cawein. In the Forest. Мэдисон Джулиус Кавейн.
- English Poetry. Madison Julius Cawein. In June. Мэдисон Джулиус Кавейн.
- English Poetry. Madison Julius Cawein. Hymn to Spiritual Desire. Мэдисон Джулиус Кавейн.
- English Poetry. Madison Julius Cawein. Home. Мэдисон Джулиус Кавейн.
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