Skip to content

A salute to Jacques Berque

I imagine his voice as the sound of a tambourine,

that the tambourine is broken in his throat,

that his throat is a fire named God.

I imagine a poet

into whose innards history pours

drenching his words and pooling at his feet,

a poet who rains blood that some hoist as a banner made of sky.

from I Imagine a Poet

Khaled Mattawa, translation from
the Arabic written by Adonis

More from
Poem of the Week

Sarah Tolmie

51

Karen Leeder

Née Wachtel

translated from the German written by
Durs Grünbein