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Elegy

An old ornate mansion in India with a green wrought iron gate

Photo by Vikram Nath Chouhan 🇮🇳 on Unsplash

Once Elephants Lived Here: Part 2

By Geetanjali Shree

The city murmured in the mazes of her ancient face.

Translated from Hindi by Daisy Rockwell

Two blue glass skyscrapers seen from below against a cloudy blue sky

Photo by Shubham Sharma on Unsplash

Once Elephants Lived Here: Part 1

By Geetanjali Shree

Here, all things old have been suppressed.

Translated from Hindi by Daisy Rockwell

“I Write in French to Tell the French I Am Not French”: Algerian Francophone Poetry

By Marilyn Hacker

Algerian Francophone poetry was largely outside, and in contrast to, the post-World War II movement in French poetry of disengagement from political causes.

From “The Night Inside”

By Djamal Amrani

The slumber at the edge/ of my well of fever

Translated from French by Marilyn Hacker

Multilingual

Beneath a Pile of Rubble

By Djamal Amrani

Because death is stronger than hunger

Translated from French by Marilyn Hacker

Multilingual

Minus One

By Samira Negrouche

I would like/ in a faraway language/ to tell you what I don’t/ understand

Translated from French by Marilyn Hacker

MultimediaMultilingual

A shadowy orange canyon with twisting rock formations

Photo by Peter Forster on Unsplash

In the Shadow of Grenada

By Samira Negrouche

She tells me not to be / a holy land / or a mine of tenderness

Translated from French by Marilyn Hacker

MultimediaMultilingual

Celebration of the Absent One

By Habib Tengour

The father’s house is a living language/ Open to guests passing through

Translated from French by Marilyn Hacker

MultimediaMultilingual

The Tartar from the Kremlin

By Habib Tengour

This particular Tartar is unbeatable at cards/ Except for whist (not a game for Tartars)

Translated from French by Marilyn Hacker