Untitled Canvas / Tableau Nu
- Untitled Canvas / Tableau Nu
Untitled Canvas
country of othersanother countrydifferent country that laughs at meanother myself whispers to pickfor my own kingdom the white pageand wander through life
we are that sheep of Panurge bracing ourselveson the gray verge of no man’s land
the Somali bullet: bloom of a new genus that bansall transports of joyall shedding of tears in the name of lovedrawn from the bittersweet milk of peace [End Page 159]
Tableau Nu
le pays des autresl’autre paysle pays autre qui se joue de moiun autre moi-même me susurrede prendre pour pays-à-soi la page blancheet vogue la vie
nous sommes ce mouton de Panurge s’arc-boutantsur le bas-côté gris de la non-patrie
la balle somalie: fleur d’un genre nouveau qui interdittout transporttoute larme versée à l’actif de l’amourpuisée dans le lait aigre-doux de la paix [End Page 160]
Abdourahman Waberi is a prize-winning poet, novelist, and short story writer from Djibouti, a tiny country in the Horn of Africa, about the size of Massachusetts. He was awarded the Grand Prix Littéraure de l’Afrique noire (Grand Prize for Black African Literature), and represented Djibouti at the 2012 Olympics’ Poetry Parnassus.
Nancy Naomi Carlson is a recent recipient of an nea Literature Translation fellowship to translate Abdourahman Waberi’s collection of French poetry, The Nomads, My Brothers, Go Out to Drink, from the Big Dipper, forthcoming from Seagull Books. She has also won grants from the Maryland Arts Council, as well as the Arts & Humanities Council of Montgomery County.
Translator’s note: Panurge is a character invented by the sixteenth-century French novelist Rabelais. In one story, Panurge, angry at being overcharged for a sheep, throws the sheep into the sea.
