Third Coast Translators Collective is an international community of literary translators. Our members share resources, mentor one another, workshop projects in progress, facilitate pathways to publication, and foster a sense of belonging and excitement about the profession. We seek to build relationships with other literary and cultural organizations in Chicago and to become a valuable point of reference for international literature. This is the first in an occasional series featuring translations by members of TCTC.
Translator’s note
Very committed to the cause of equality between genders, Algerian-born Souad Labbize writes in the name of all women who choose exile in order to affirm their independence. This sequence of poems from Je rends grâce à l’arobase (I Give Thanks to the @, Les Ecrits 9, 2017) is characteristic of the poet’s work, in that it weaves her ache for those exiled from Palestine with her longing for the beloved.
Grant me asylum
in the timbre of your voice
territory of exile
of the absent/present
invisible on the map
from the Negev to Sinai
fallen from the flag
will they have taken
the crescent with them
is it reasonable
for them to find refuge
in a harmonious chord
between the quarter tones
stream Bedouin shades
searching for their bodies
is it possible that Jafra*
is among them
I love keeping watch
for the @ of your address
a nonchalant snail
coiled between your name
and your virtual home
I know he loves the sea
and drags his sadness
along a vanished pier
of an abandoned port
between Acre and Jaffa
does he dream of another destiny
an oud’s life
suited to his shell
while he recharges
he neglects his job
as an ethereal mailman
*Note: In Palestinian culture a Jafra is a woman from Akka, a symbol of Palestine.
You often visit
each city
where my heart opens
an embassy
The poem gorged with light
the one I haven’t started
mocks my weak will
leaning against the wall
it crosses its legs to wait
near the blackboard
filled with virtuous resolutions
I get ready to go out
it leads the way
with its flashlight
I cross a bridge
it ties my sneaker laces
together
forces me to admit
the city’s landmarks
are illuminated
by your stopover in my thoughts
I dreamed of you my love
it’s unusual for me to remember
unfinished dreams
a silhouette approached
its features becoming clearer
I begged the dream’s guardian
to allow you time
to arrive
d’arriver
If you are cold
in your house
far from my hands
come near the crackling flames
where your fears blaze
Only an acre
of your voice
a melodic bar or two
that you could spare
for my exiled worksite
you see
I feel like building
a land of consolation
for the rest of us
specks of dust
disinherited by the light
de nous autres
poussière d’individus
déshérités de la lumière
I’ll climb to the top
of the firebreak
don’t come too quickly
give me time
to admire the vista
while I think of you
The baby amazed
by the play of her fingers
teaches me magic
I learn to contain
in the bowl of my hands
your voice
archipelago of volcanic islands
Yoked to the echoes
of your voice
the church bell on my block
strains to mimic
the sweet call
of a lost minaret
(Editor’s note: The original French was removed for copyright reasons.)
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Born in Algeria in 1965, Souad Labbize lived in Germany and Tunisia before moving to Toulouse, France. She has published a novel, J’aurais voulu être un escargot (Seguier 2011) and several poetry collections, including Brouillons amoureux (Éditions des Lisières 2018)and most recently Je franchis les barbelés (Éditions Bruno Doucey 2019). The Centre Méditerranéen de Littérature honored this last publication with the 2020 Prix de la Méditerranée de la Poési.
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Susanna Lang’s translations of poetry by Yves Bonnefoy include Words in Stone, and she has published translations of poems and essays by Nohad Salameh, Souad Labbize, and Yves Bonnefoy in such journals as World Literature Today, New Directions Publishing, New Poetry in Translation, Transference, and The Literary Review. Her third collection of poems, Travel Notes from the River Styx, was published in 2017 by Terrapin Books. Her original poems have appeared in such publications as Little Star Journal, Prairie Schooner, december, American Life in Poetry,and The Slowdown. She lives and teaches in Chicago.
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