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Issue 14 • Summer 2005 • Featured Lodestar Writer • Poetry
Jean Sénac,
translated from the French by Justin VicariFootrace
You speak of love and love. I understand nothing
But the despair of cocksuckers with only their mirrors
For escape. You speak of blond hair, civilized
Chests. I understand
Only the prick that throbs into the void, against the rocks.
Giant teenage motorbikes leave skidtracks
On my iliac. And tectonic plates
Heave up to the crust when brothels fill with shouts.
I understand
Only the sobs where flying saucers stammer.
And names: Ahmed! Mahrez! Kamel! Antar!
O fuck me in the ass! O Yousef, right up to the Koran I have sucked
Your Running. Now, on the sand
Flow back into the hourglass. You
Plummet. What ocean has taken your place?
What planet keeps your ass in pants?
The fire is invisible. You know it pulsates in the ashes of the poem. I don't understand
Anything but the despair of the prick-boomerang.
You speak to us of love, love, love like a mummy unwinding its litanies of gold,
Its plaguesores. I don't understand
Anything but the abysmal despair of cocksuckers
Cutting their losses.
Sooner the Void than the Hole,
The Void fucked by the Compact-Spiritual-Mass,
The only Now I can conceive. Passe Papa you rattle on. I understand
Only the sky and sea fucking, blue
Twins, unicorn.
Oooooo exile!
Abysmal despair right down to the Bone.
Next Page:
The Bar-&-Grills Are Sleeping (page 5 of 18 pages)
All Pages: See all the poems on one page
Table of Contents: The Myth of the Mediterranean Sperm
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Jean Sénac was a teacher, soldier, and writer. He was the author of numerous collections of poems, including Citoyens de beauté and Jubilation, and one novel, Ébauche du père: pour en finir avec l'enfance. Following the Algerian revolution, he worked in the Ministry of Education in Algeria and for Radio-Algiers with a daily program, Poésie sur tous les fronts. He was the founder of the magazines Soleil, Terrasses, and cofounder of Galery 54. He was murdered, possibly because of his political beliefs, in August 1973 in Algiers. More information (in French): French Wikipedia: Jean Sénac.
Justin Vicari's work appears or is forthcoming in Interim, Rhino, Eclipse, Slant, Spillway, Gin Bender Poetry Review, Poetry Motel, Third Coast, Disquieting Muses Quarterly, Softblow, and other reviews. He is the author of chapbooks "In a Garden of Eden" (Plan B Press) and "Woman Bathing Light to Dark" (forthcoming from Toad Press, 2006). In 2005, one of his poems was nominated for a Pushcart Prize.
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Go To:
Issue 14 or Lodestar Quarterly home page
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